Sitting in my chamber of machinations I fought down a sigh. I had a major offensive against Dr. Satan in the planning stages but I felt bored. Despite regular text exchanges on the subject there wasn't much I could do for the moment.

The same applied to the groundworks being laid to investigate Stromholt. It was a lot of talking but no action as I had to wait on certain elements to come together. None of that was a bad thing but it felt deeply anticlimactic. It wasn't like I was short of work to do though. My to-do list was miles long at this point.

Getting back to work I fell into a rhythm and tackled them one by one. My mood improved as I went along. Getting to scratch problems and projects off the list one by one was satisfying in its own way. Under other circumstances it would have been a pleasant day.

Like if I could shake my ever present anxiety. Or get a call from Agony and Steve. Not to mention knowing if the mystery count down in the corner of my vision was counting down to my doom or not.

I felt my face spasm a little next to my left orb.

My life was a fun thing lately.

Speaking of things I couldn’t do anything about, I looked at the countdown . The string of runes consisted of three pairs. They didn't follow the flow of time I was accustomed to. All I could say was that none of the pairs was moving fast enough to be minutes or seconds. That suggested it went weeks, days, and hours.

The only thing Aaron and I agreed on was that the foremost rune constituted a zero. That ment I was dealing with a single digit worth of weeks in time. The most time I had at the start was nine weeks.

Now two of those weeks had passed in the blink of an eye. It was depressing when I looked at it, but I did my best not to let it distract me. I’d already sent Aaron a write up of the runes from the countdown and what I could remember from upgrade sickness.

Forcing myself to remember the upgrade had given me a headache. It was nothing compared to core withdrawals or upgrade sickness itself though. It barely hurt and only lasted an hour. I was getting caught up in my thoughts again. I took a deep breath and shook off the gloom.

“Hm?” Henry hummed. He was resting with his head on my tail as he laid on the couch reading. It was his equivalent of a lunch break.

It hadn't been obvious at first but the skeletons had some similarities to mortal beings. They needed variety and relaxation to stay mentally sharp. How much and when didn't match up with the living but it had its own recognizable ebb and flow.

“Trying to get back on task,” I said lightly.

“Which project?” Henry asked.

“A scam to lure Andrea’s family out with,” I explained. I had a blank layer open in my art interface. Normally I’d be scribbling ideas away on it, but I had nothing.

“You s-said some-something about honesty and policies before,” Henry offered, sounding a touch salty. The skeletons who wanted to be part of the raid on Dr. Satan were already working to befriend the living in the town. Phase two of that plan was bringing them in on my secret, which was what had him annoyed. He felt like it was a security risk, and he wasn’t wrong.

“I would go with that if it had a chance of working. All I can think of is sending a letter saying they need to collect an inheritance in person,” I replied evenly. His barb resonated with me but I couldn’t think of an honest way to get them to come over.

At least none that wouldn’t draw Stromholts attention unduly. Asking Andrea’s family to come collect her body had been one of my early discarded ideas. I didn’t know how Stromholt had spun the story of the hero’s deaths, or if they’d said anything at all. Using that angle was too risky.

“I was thinking of a piece of property. Land is a valuable thing,” I continued, ignoring Henry's annoyance.

“T-that might backfire. They’d s-send a p-proxy rather than go in per-person,” Henry offered before turning back to his book. I smiled, amused at how he still helped me even when he was annoyed. It was a good thing too, I’d forgotten to inquire about how real estate worked. I’d also neglected to consider that there might be regional variation in those laws.

“I could just invite them over,” I said jokingly. Henry paused in his reading, lost in thought before sitting up and turning his attention to me. I was surprised, he’d closed his book without marking his page.

“Andrea was p-part of the hero’s party. It wouldn’t be st-strange to s-send a letter of thanks,” Henry said as he sat up, still looking thoughtful.

“Invite them to visit so we can express our gratitude more tangibly?” I offered, catching on to his train of thought.

“It-it w-would be- be r-rude n-not to pay our respects,” Henry agreed, voice catching in his excitement. I laughed, leaning forward to rest my forehead against his for a few moments. He blushed a little at the contact but looked pleased.

I broke away, wondering if what I’d done was like a peck on the cheek or something else. I’d asked Dawn what the gesture meant, but she’d given me a vague answer about it being situational. Fat lot of good that did me.

As my eyeline changed, I realized I’d started hovering instead of sitting on the couch. After being grounded by my core withdrawals for a while, I’d regained the ability. Now I had more control but there were some side effects.

I could sit or stay on manifested feet when I wanted to now. The trouble was that it wasn’t just surprise or fright that would cause me to hover erratically anymore. Most pronounced emotions would do the trick. It was embarrassing to have such an obvious tell and I would have been blushing if I had the ability.

“Uhm...Oh! I keep forgetting. Its almost time to start talking about the dungeon in the town,” I said as I forced myself to sit on the couch. Sinking into the leather cushions felt nice thanks to the illusion I’d cast on them. It was a little bit of a waste to make something look exactly like it already did, but it was the only way I could feel them.

“D-did you finish the lay-layout?” Henry asked. I felt embarrassed immediately. I hadn’t but I was in the final design phase.

“No, it's still a little ways off. It should be fine to reveal the gathering layers,” I said quickly. Gathering shouldn't be a hostile activity and there were no monsters on those layers.

“I don’t think the Lepusan would be willing to undertake any serious risks right now anyway. They're just getting settled in,” I added. It was funny how much info my brain could stitch together when I panicked.

“O-okay… Wh-what will they do with what they-they collect?” Henry asked. I would have loved to time travel and smack myself in the mouth. I’d been focused on setting up the valley and getting new inhabitants. I’d completely forgotten about the economy. Thinking about it though, I relaxed a little.

“I’ll have to figure it out, I was thinking about everything except that recently,” I admitted. It wasn’t great that I hadn’t planned anything but I didn’t need to try and cover my mistakes like a scared kid.

“I’ll talk to the crafters and see how they can use the materials. I can change or add things based on their feedback,” I continued. It wouldn’t take long to do. It was something I should have done sooner.

I'd set up the gathering layers early on and half-forgotten about them. I could also scatter some things in the valley and stone maze now that I was thinking about it.

“Ah, that makes se-sense,” Henry agreed.

“I could tie their sales into ‘market day’ too,” I added. The valley wasn’t self sustaining if you subtracted what I supplied with my powers. The event would cover how the additional goods were obtained.

It was a good idea but created an extra problem. Food needed to arrive on a regular schedule. The merchants would need to come from nearby and have detailed local information. I added sorting out a cover story to my high priority to-do list.

“I also need to figure out the caravan issue. Market day is in three days. I can get away with not saying much, but it won’t get easier with time,” I added. It was annoying but not a life and death situation so I didn’t have a lot of motivation to deal with it.

“People do need to be from or going somewhere,” Henry agreed. Neither of us had any other idea and after a few minutes of contemplation Henry turned back to his book. It was then that he noticed the velvet ribbon bookmark dangling free.

I'd never seen someone look as devastated as Henry did in that moment. It was equal parts heartwrenching and hilarious. I didn't laugh but smiled with an amused sense of sympathy.

“Hang on, I’ll look it up,” I said and rolled back through my security footage.

“Page 286,” I said after a couple moments. Henry immediately turned to the page which to my surprise was only a third of the way into the book. After reading a few lines to confirm it was the correct page he marked it and closed the book with a relieved sigh.

“My thanks, Mistress,” Henry said, taking my hand to kiss the back of it. It was the second time he'd done as much but the first time had been to cheer me up. This time was different and I felt a shiver run up my back as he looked up mischievously.

A chime startled us both. My view screen was still in share mode so the incoming text had an audible alert instead of a mental one. Like a spell broke, when I looked at Henry again we both started laughing.

I switched over to my normal private mode before I checked the message. It was a thank you letter from Elim's mother Jessica. I'd sent a care packaged over for Bess recently.

"S-Something wrong?" Henry asked. I wasn't sure how he knew that my mood had changed, but it didn't matter. Nothing was wrong.

"No, Jessica was thanking me for some things," I explained. Henry put his book aside and didn’t move to lay back down. Instead he looked at me with concern in his eyes.

“I met her. Sh-she’s funny and tou-tough as nails,” Henry said. I nodded, thinking the same. Jessica had made quite the impression on me before she even arrived.

“I’m su-sure s-she’d like to meet the mayor,” Henry added. He knew I was stalling. The whole bone brigade did if I were being honest. They kept suggesting things to see and interesting people to talk to. I knew I should, but instead of going out I found excuses to stay in.

I sighed, knowing it wouldn’t get better unless I made an effort. I needed to stop letting my more messed up instincts control me. They had not led to good things so far.

My excuse of mysterious mayor business was iron clad to outsiders. The Lepusan had spread rumors to support it. They said Duex manipulated the stone maze with a magic tool for the valley’s protection. They were wrong about who and how, but not about the spirit of what I did.

“I’ll put in an appearance for the first market day...” I agreed unhappily. I liked Jessica and getting to talk to her face to face should have been a good thing.

“And meet her?” Henry pressed, not willing to let me off the hook.

“I don’t know,” I replied unhappily. I was frustrated with myself as much as the question.

“I-is it because s-she doesn't know who you are?” Henry asked gently. I could only shake my head. My identity was a bit of a mess depending on how someone knew me. I’d already conversed with Elim’s mother as the hermit. Introducing her to Deux wasn’t a problem but would mean not letting on that I was both. Or being honest, at least in a limited sense, and telling her I was.

“Then... because of w-what you are?” Henry asked after a few moments. I was surprised he brought it up. I hadn’t put much thought into it up to this point but I wasn’t human anymore though I once had been. Being around them now might prove uncomfortable but I could only shake my head. That wasn’t why. I hadn’t been thinking even half so deeply about it.

“Elim might die in my service,” I admitted finally. Elim had told me about his mother and daughter in the beginning but they’d been abstracts. I could focus on my plans instead of worrying about Bess losing her father. Now the idea of actually meeting and seeing them face to face left me feeling cold needles of dread across my skin.

“True,” Henry agreed. I looked at him, expecting words of comfort but none came. There wasn’t anything to say at this point. The deal was struck and Elim had already been at risk before, even if it wasn’t because of my orders. Refusing to look at the people he might leave behind wouldn’t change that they were here, living in my valley.

“Go with me?” I asked despite feeling embarrassed. I should have been able to do it on my own but I felt like I’d chicken out.

“Happily,” Henry agreed immediately. He held my hand as he said it and leaned forward to touch his forehead to mine.

“HOW SCANDALOUS!” Chris shouted from the door. I jumped and Henry moved like a flash to stand, hand going to his sword. Unfortunately my tail was wrapped around his legs and he immediately tripped.

Seeing what was happening I panicked. Trying to pull my tail back I only added insult to injury. Henry spun as he fell, landing on his back with a solemn expression.

“Fuuuck!” Chris said in shock before starting to laugh like a hyena. Still sitting on the couch I didn’t know what to do and looked at Henry with a mortified grimace.

“42, excuse me,” Henry said as he got to his feet.

“Christopher, I’d like a word,” He added as his expression hardened. Chris was already running like Stallin and Blackmore were after him. Despite that I would have put my money on Henry were anyone taking bets. Henry seemed to flicker and vanish, leaving a trail of blue energy and a distinct feeling that Chris would be respawning soon.