"Gods damn! That was a good storm." I say with a stretch as the first rays of dawn wake us up. Turns out that trying to out-fuck a couple literal forces of nature is a bit difficult, not that we didn't give it our all.

"Do you think they bought our excuse of 'investigating' the storm?" Amelia asks with a chuckle.

"Well." I draw out the word. "Considering the smirks on Liza's and Aura's faces, and the fact that you two were pawing me when I tried to tell them. I'm going to have to guess that no, they did not in fact buy our excuse."

"That, and I'm pretty sure they heard us in Riverton, even over the storm." Apricot adds with a throaty purr.

"Oh, well." Amelia's smile shows that she really doesn't care. "So, when did we get back to the boat?" She finally takes stock of our surroundings.

"Somewhere around the fourth or fifth round, I think." I get to my feet and look out over the perfectly clear and calm sky. "I knew I wasn't going be able to keep us in the air if we kept going like that, so I brought us down here."

"Oh, yeah." Her smile turns wicked. "Things got a little hazy around then. Mhm, so what's for breakfast?"

"I'm thinking pancakes for a hundred, the others are starting to stir. So. we should probably get dressed first." I retrieve a new outfit from my inventory, as we ripped off our clothes from last night while somewhere over the gulf.

"Make mine waffles instead, and we're going to have to restock on meat and eggs when we get back to Riverton." She comments while pulling on a simple, yet elegant dress.

"Yes, do waffles instead... blueberry waffles." Apricot demands while pulling on her own matching outfit. I've noticed that they like to do this sometimes, probably because they know I find it irresistibly sexy.

"Alright, waffles it is." I wrap us all up in a bubble and carry us over to the stone shelters that were put up last night.

The smell of cooking bacon soon draws the villagers out, though Mittens beats them all and charges towards the bowl of minced mousie with bacon, his second favorite breakfast. The first being bacon with minced mousie.

"Good morning Lord, Ladies." Aura greets us. "That smells delicious."

"Just Sorrel is fine, please." I'm getting better about the whole Title thing, but it's still annoying. "And, help yourself, there's plenty to go around. Once everyone is fed, we can go down and I'll clean up the town for you. It's a mess, but there's no lasting damage."

"And, the boats? Did any of them make it through?" She's as worried as you would expect the head of a fishing village to be.

"Let's just say that it's a good thing that I'm a Nature Mage." A tree grows behind me and turns itself into a copy of the only boat that didn't drift away or go under. "After breakfast you can make a list of boats, rigging, nets, and whatever else you might need to get back on your feet."

"Marquis, that's too much." She bows to me again, and I have to fight not to roll my eyes.

"You really need to get used to people using your title." Amelia Windwhispers to me before addressing the village leader. "It is not too much for us to want our lands and people to be productive. We can replace in moments what would takes weeks to order from Riverton."

"Sounding kinda regal there, Amelia." I whisper back. "Not aiming for Vivian's job are you?" She keeps a straight face but Apricot nearly chokes on her breakfast.

"As you say, Ma'am." Aura quickly relents. "I'll get you that list soonest."

"Eat first." I order while handing her a full plate of food, and a clipboard with a few sheets of paper on it.

The rest of the morning meal passes quickly, the villagers jubilant at the knowledge that they'll be able to recover from the storm so quickly. After I clean up the dishes, we all make our way down to the village. A couple of the kids hitching a ride in the boat I made.

"It's ruined." One of the townsfolk cries after seeing the state of their home.

"No, it's..." I pause for a second as the view of the horizon catches my eye. "Just a little messy." Calling Blackthorne from my neck, it rapidly swells to full size. "Cleanse!" Throwing the weight of my magic behind the spell, I clean up the entire village at once. "See, it just needs a bit of tidying up. The buildings are sound and safe, so if everyone could take inventory, and let Aura know what needs to be replaced. It would help us out a lot."

"..." The townsfolk are a bit stunned, but soon go back to their homes to take stock.

"Nice staff." Liza says with a smirk.

"Careful how you answer that hubby." Amelia cuts me off before I can say anything, and gets a laugh from Apricot and Temmie.

"Thank you." I nod my head to her and then Amelia before adding. "It's not often that I whip it out in public, but it always seems to draw an appreciative crowd. It is so long, thick, and powerful that most people just want to reach out and stroke it."

*Ding**Ding**Ding* - "Hahahah." Temmie and Apricot lose it while Amelia just groans "Damned staff jokes" and shakes her head.

"I'll have to take your word for it." Liza says with a smile.

"Alright, could you please let Aura know that we'll be down by the sea once she has the list compiled." I take the girls' hands and start walking down to the beach.

"What's up?" Amelia asks after sensing me put up a Soundbarrier. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes." I lift her hand to my lips and kiss it. "I was just wondering how large the world is. This is the first time I've seen the ocean on the horizon, and it seems a lot bigger than back on Dirt."

"I don't actually know how big the world is." She admits.

"Me either." Apricot shakes her head. "Is there anything in the library?"

"Not that I've seen, but I'll go through it later, if Amelia doesn't mind that is." I've been holding off on making my own copy just to avoid the headache, but now that I've got the hard drive working, there's no excuse not to do it.

"Of course, you can." She smiles and kisses my hand like I kissed hers.

"Thank you. But, fortunately I don't need it to get a good idea for how big the world is. Not with the sea as glassy smooth as it is right now." I stop right at the edge of the water. "See I once learned a simple formula to determine the distance to the horizon for any given planet. And, luckily it works in reverse. I just need to use the Rangefinder spell I taught you... Oh my."

"Rangefinder!" Amelia copies me and fires one off at. "I'm getting a bit over twelve and a half kilometers."

"Square that and then divide by your eye height in kilometers."

"Uh... twelve-point-six-five times itself is just over one-sixty... Nnh, do I have to divide by a decimal point?"

"Heheheh. What's the matter merchant girl, can't handle a little mental math?" I tease her. "Just divide 1000 by your eye height, and then multiply the first number by that. Or just send the Rangefinder off at one meter high like I did and you can multiply by one-thousand." She give me a bit of a stink eye for that cheat.

"No, I can do this. One-sixty times six-twenty-five is one-hundred-thousand." She smiles at having gotten the answer. "Now, is that the diameter, radius, or circumference?"

"Diameter." I answer with a smile. "And, since I know you're wondering, Dirt was right around twelve and a half. Which raises a whole hell of a lot of questions for me."

"Eight times smaller? Really?" This surprises both her and Apricot.

"That's interesting and all, but please tell me you're done talking math." The pixie pleads while clutching her head in a melodramatic fashion.

"Okay, we can move onto physics then." Amelia and I laugh when Apricot groans at my words. "Don't worry, I won't bore you with the details, it just means that I need to recreate some middle-school science class experiments. That, and getting to the moon might be a little bit harder. Unless... Identify!" I try using it on the moon that's still visible a couple hands over the horizon.

*Ding*

-Nice try, but that ain't gonna work. Temmie.

"Oh well, it was a long shot. Is there anything you can tell us?" I ask, but only receive an apologetic *Ding* in response. "Whatever, the world works, that'll just have to be good enough for now."

"What do you mean the world works? You say that like it shouldn't." Amelia laughs at the annoyed frown on my face.

"It's just more math, that I only know because there were a bunch of stories about worlds just like this that used to annoy me because they didn't explain how things worked. I'll just chalk it up to lazy gods until I can get around to running those and more tests."

"Does that mean you're done talking about math?" Apricot asks in a pleading tone.

"Yes, sweetie. We're done talking about math." Amelia pulls her in for a hug.

"Though, I should probably make a calculator Rune soon." I laugh when Amelia turns around and swats me on the shoulder.

***

Amelia and Apricot are playing around in the shallows, and I'm in the middle of pulling a copy of every ocean plant for few kilometers towards me when Rea calls.

"Good morning Mayor." I say in a chipper voice. "How did you weather the storm?"

"Oh, there was a lot of rain like you said, but luckily we only caught the edges of it. How did things go in Riverton?"

"I don't know, we're down in Hedgecoast right now." I laugh when Apricot tries splashing Amelia only to have it turned back on her tenfold. "A couple Elementals were behind the storm yesterday and they made land fall here, flooding the town in the process."

"Was anyone hurt?" That being her first question makes me like her even more than I already did.

"No. And thankfully, the only casualty was a cow with a broken leg, but I fixed her right up."

"Thank goodness." It's plain in her voice that she really does care. "The reason I called is that a wisp named Thalian wishes to speak with you."

"Is he there?" I ask, wondering why he came back. They couldn't have made it to the teeth and back yet, and the storm wasn't coming from that direction. Not that a little weather would discourage the Fae.

"I am, Lord." His voice comes out of the phone. "And to answer your next question. I came back with my mate Tilania to look after Co. Our families came after us, and we met up yesterday. My clan didn't feel right about leaving the dungeon alone, again. So, I came along with them to prevent any misunderstandings. We sent messengers back though, and I assure you that your requests will be carried out. Serien's clan will collect him and ensure that he will never bother you again." His words rush out as though he's afraid that I'm going to smite him from a few hundred kilometers away.

"Okay." I say once I'm able to get a word in edgewise. "Don't cause trouble. And, if your clan or Co need anything, just tell Rea and she can relay it to me." I may not like his choice in friends, but Thalian seems alright otherwise. And, Co does need Fae to mature properly.

"Thank you, Lord Rumex." I can practically hear the tension drain out if him. "If it's not too much to ask, we did use up most of our Mana Stones..." He trails off, seemingly afraid to finish the sentence.

"We'll be back in a few days, I'll give you a bunch then. But know that I expect to gain access to those records soon. I'm especially interested in anything to do with Elementals. Rea, if there's nothing else, I'll see you in a few days."

"No, sir. I'll have the candidates ready for when you return."

"Good. Take care." I disconnect and turn to Apricot who's been listening in since Thalian's name was mentioned. "You alright with this?"

"I'm fine." She takes a deep breath. "They just took me by surprise last time."

"Oh, sweetie." Amelia pulls her into a hug.

Aura, who's been waiting off to the side while we were talking, comes up with the list in her hand.

"Is this everything?" I look over it over and quickly see one glaring omission. "Are you sure that you don't maybe want me to replace some of the spoiled food?"

She does a face palm before nodding meekly. "Yes Lord, and thank you for spotting that."

I just laugh and say. "It's alright, you had all just eaten a full breakfast. So, food was probably the last thing on your minds. I'll fill the pantries with enough food to get you all well into spring."

While the girls continue their water fight, I first cork the bottle of sea plants, and add it to my seeds crate. Only then do I head back to the village and go about replacing their lost goods, making sure to include some thick winter clothes for everyone.

Most of their firewood floated away too and, since trees aren't common around here, I lay in more than enough of that too. Normally they rely on floating a few dozen logs down the Janwick every year, supplemented by wood from the hedges that gave the town it's name.

Food wise, I give them plenty of dry staples, along with a lot of canned goods. I plan to leave a bunch for the army in Riverton, but this is a good test run. Most everyone only had small herb gardens, and likely traded fish for everything else. So, I take it upon myself to do something about that too.

"Aura, your people need greenhouses." I tell the village head. "This business with Cendassa may make it difficult for you to trade for food, and I'm not going to have the only people actually willing to live this close to the Deadlands be forced to leave because they can't feed themselves."

"We're not exactly farmers, Lord." She says, careful of offending me.

"I understand that, but if you can manage some herbs, you should be able to handle a few basics." I pause for a moment. "How many of you can read?" I was just going to hand over some books on gardening, but I realized there might be a problem with that.

"I can, but most of the others only know enough to recognize their name."

"Well, that won't do." I shake my head. "Looks like educational Runes are next on my project list. But for now, I'll leave you a movie player with some guides on gardening. Some reading primers too, incase anyone wants to learn." I take a moment to fashion them, and then float the books into her house before showing her how to work the movie player.

"This is too much Lord, this Rune is worth more than our village can produce in a decade." She tries to hand it back, but I just levitate it into her house.

"It's easier and quicker for me to give you this, than to hire someone to come here and teach you how to garden." Not exactly true since I could just tell Pepi to do it and he would, but I don't care about a trinket that I can easily make millions of. "Speaking of." I hand her a boxed phone. "You saw me talking to the mayor of Circle Orchard, this is how. The instructions are inside, along with the numbers for Pepi's people."

"Just take it and say thank you." Amelia walks up with Apricot, both already dried off and cleaned up by her magic. "He already went through the effort of running relays down here, and that wasn't just incase someone wanted to call us."

"Thank you." Aura bows deeply to each of us in turn.

"Now where do you want the greenhouses?" I project full-size images of two models, a smaller, domed keyhole garden. And, a long, traditional greenhouse with raised beds along the walls and a work bench in back. "I recommend one small one per house, and a couple of the large ones for everybody."

"That's a lot of glass, babe." Amelia comments on the projections.

"Don't worry, I'll use tempered glass so it won't be as dangerous if it breaks." I re-assure her.

"I know you can make it from dirt, but most people pay a lot of money for it." I can tell that she's trying not to roll her eyes at me.

"Ahh..." I frown at that for a bit before coming up with a work-around. "Fine, I'll just use enchantments to keep the salt and cold out then. It's not as good as a proper greenhouse, but should keep greedy assholes from causing trouble." I let out a disappointed sigh.

Amelia rubs my shoulder and tries to cheer me up, but my good mood has evaporated with the green houses. Since Aura still hasn't told me where to put them, I just throw down a bunch of keyhole gardens to the east of town.

"Liza." I take out my dirt bike and call for the Earth Mage. "Time to find out if your problem is the speed, water, or lack of control. Get on."

"Sir?" She looks at me with a mix of fear and confusion.

"Everyone going on the mission needs to be able to ride these at speed. I'll take us over to the mines in something similar to what I brought you to Riverton in, but if things go pear shaped." I pat the tank of the bike. "This is how you'll get back. You didn't have a problem on the trip from the capital, so I'm thinking last night was just you lacking a connection to the earth."

"I didn't really look out the windows before, but maybe you're right." She straddles the bike and I show her how to work it. It only takes her a few minutes to get it down and handle it at the speed of a galloping horse.

"See if you can keep up." I fly off the ground and go from zero to one-hundred in no time flat. "Well, come on. I'm not even trying here." I fly upside down and backwards to keep her attention on me instead of how fast she's going. "I'll even let you keep the bike if you can go faster than I can fly, that is."

"Oh, it's on." She says that, but slowly increases her speed instead of just gunning it. I just yawn and keep an even lead on her.

"Take your time." I start rotating using the base of my feet as a pivot, so that I look like a Sorrel shaped hand of a giant invisible clock. "I can do this all day."

"Arrrgghh!" She growls, ducks down lower on the bike and, finally guns it.

"Took you long enough." I say into her ear as she comes even with, and then passes me.

"Hahahahah. Holy shit, how fast am I going?" She eases up on the throttle, and I catch back up with her.

"You topped out around two-twenty." I answer while doing the back stroke next to her. "I've gotten over three-fifty, but that's on hard stone while moving the air out of the way."

"Do you have to do that? It's giving me a head ache." She's referring to the fact that even though I’m doing the backstroke, my feet are actually facing forwards.

"It won't be as fun but, if you insist." I shift into a cross-legged sitting pose with my hands resting in my lap. "Sorry for taking my bad mood out on you, by the way. But, I really did need to know if you could handle this."

"It's alright, and I do understand." She says as we finish our loop and end up back in town. "I needed someone to push me past that fear, anyways. This let you do that, while burning off a stupid amount of magic."

"Seriously, man." Dieter says with a laugh. "I've seen Oliver fly that fast, but never for that long. How the hells do you manage it?"

I look at Apricot and Amelia. "Let's just say that I get a lot of endurance training." The girls, Liza, Temmie, and I all laugh at the matching looks on his and Packston's faces.

***