Their first destination was a cograil station. Not knowing the area, Pellex trusted the driver to get them to the closest one, and they arrived within fifteen minutes. Fortunately, Evwel banked with one of the stateweb institutions, and she could access her account in Vokit for a normal centrex payment. After a few short goodbyes, Evwel boarded the train, and they watched as it carried her out of the station and back to her home. Returning to the taxi, the high spirits left over from their escape a bit subdued, Pellex informed the driver of their next destination, in the Sun District.

Greentown wasn’t very close to Sun District, so as soon as they hit an entrance, the driver took them into the understreets. Carved by powerful skills and reinforced with rune-channeled eli, the tunnels honeycombed Zolnre, going several levels deep in some places, and not everyone could drive on them. It took high ability scores, specialized skills, or purpose-built vehicles to travel the dimly lit roads safely. But the deeper you went, the faster you could go. Even just on the first level, the difference was palpable, lights flicking by as the taxi roared through the tunnel, along with the dozens of other cars nearby, but the driver went deeper, dropping to the third level before cruising. At understreet speeds, it only took a few minutes before the driver exited into the Sun District, revealing roads flanked by elegant houses, with bronze detailing polished just enough that the sun refracted off the rows of buildings endlessly, giving the area its signature warm glow.

They passed through the residential areas quickly, though, soon coming to the shops. The Sun District was mostly housing, as opposed to the big commerce districts like Amber Hill or Eshelbire, and its businesses tended to be small, family-owned affairs, often with a ground floor storefront and living areas on the upper floors. It was one of these that the taxi pulled up next to, discharging the party in front of a building much like the others on its street, just one more four-story brick-and-bronze edifice sandwiched between its brethren. This one called itself Closeworks.

Stepping inside, a soft tone chiming from a construct above the door, the party was greeted with a tidy, well-stocked artifice store, with shelves full of staples like thi-bulbs and doorknobs, alongside displays advertising custom-built home centrex boards, toilet installation, and other customized items, the focus on custom, detailed, small constructs apparently being the basis for the store’s name.

No-one was at the counter, but a voice called from the back of the shop shortly after they entered, promising to be right with them. Pellex seemed content to wait, a faint grin playing on his face, and Refos and Ucria followed his example. After a few seconds wait, a middle-aged woman stepped through the door, dusting her hands off on an artificer’s apron. As she straightened, she saw the group, and focused on one of them in particular.

“Pellex?”

“Last I checked.”

Rushing forward, Pellex’s mom wrapped her son in a tight embrace for a few seconds before releasing him and stepping back, tapping his forehead as she did so.

“Mom!”

“Level 6!? And what is this class!”

“Uh, please don’t talk about that here. Is Dad home?”

“No, he’s out with the twins, they’re looking at dresses for the Tellurion Ball.”

“Wait, the twins are going to the ball?”

“They’re 16 now, so they’re old enough. And oh dear, where are my manners,” she said, turning to Refos and Ucria, “I’m Ollei, Pellex’s mom. It’s not often he brings people home, who might you be?”

“Um, Ucria.”

“I’m Refos. It’s probably better if Pellex explains why we’re here.”

Everyone turned to Pellex, and he sighed.

“Mom, do you have someplace we can talk?”

Ollei seemed about to say something, but she changed her mind before speaking.

“Of course. Come upstairs, we can use the parlor.”

After flicking a switch behind the counter that darkened the store, Ollei led them into a back hall and to a flight of stairs. Starting to ascend, Pellex resumed the previous conversation.

“Completely forgot about the twins’ birthday. Funny how that happens. What about the rest of the girls, where are they?”

“Yre is out on a flight, Ikia is at maeslo practice, and Monn and Puev are upstairs, reading last time I saw them, so probably breaking things now.”

“That’s unfortunate, I wanted to see Yre, tell her about how I piloted a passenger airship before she got anywhere near one.”

Ollei just shook her head as they kept climbing, passing one door before they came to the floor they wanted. A bit of a climb, but all that really did was stop the younger girls from charging between floors all the time, given their baseline physical stats. Opening the stairwell door, they entered a large, carpeted room, with two couches arranged around a large, standing centrex board, with a few assorted side tables, toys, and pillows scattered here and there. Everyone took a seat, and Pellex began to explain.

“…And then we came straight here. You still have the guest rooms, right? It’d just be for a few days, then we’re off again.”

Pellex’s mom had been silent throughout the story, only interrupting to greet Iote when they brought it out of the storage rod, but her response to Pellex’s query was immediate.

“All of you can stay as long as you need to! First of all, you’re severely underestimating how long it will take to get ready. Secondly, you’re not going to hole up in some hotel room somewhere and build things out of scrap when we have unused bedrooms and a perfectly functional workshop, presuming Refos and Ucria are comfortable staying here.”

“If it would be no imposition, we would be very grateful to stay here until we can get underway. It’s been a while since we had a residence that wasn’t a leaky tent, much less comfortable beds.” Refos said.

“That’s settled, then. There isn’t a hotel in the district with beds like we have.” Ollei said, accentuating the last part with a small smile.

“Thanks, Mom. I guess we should get stuff put away, then I want to visit Ploris as soon as I can. Refos, you said you were going shopping?”

“Yes, most of our luggage went ahead of us, and I’ll probably be able to hunt it down, but we did have all our clothes with us, so those will need replacing. We have some money saved up, so we may purchase some enchantments. Do you need us to get anything for you?”

“I’m going to hold off until I see Ploris. And speaking of, Iote, can you come with me to meet him?”

The core was sitting on one of the side tables, idly extending strands of ngi throughout the room, but when its name was mentioned, everyone could feel its attention focusing.

: i have no objections :

“Alright then.”

With that, everyone got up, Pellex putting Iote back in the storage rod, and followed Ollei to their rooms. They really didn’t have much on them, so moving into the guest rooms was pretty easy. The infamous Audenry beds came as a bit of a shock to Refos and Ucria, the masterworks of artifice responding to their resident with near-sapient insight, contorting and adjusting to perfectly fit, canceling out unwanted noise, and playing soothing music over small, built-in centrex links. They had been in the family for decades, each generation adding their own improvements to the by now excessively overengineered furniture. They weren't the only Audenry heirloom craft, but they were the strangest.

Pellex’s room hadn’t changed much, except for missing a lamp that Puev had apparently broken. Pellex grabbed a few staples he had hidden away, and used his closet to deal with the storage rod. It wasn’t as close to failure as Pellex had expected, but still wasn’t going to hold up much longer, so everything except for Iote got dumped out.

After everything was put away, the three went out to the road and hailed taxis. Normally Pellex would just borrow one of his parents’ cars, but, as was common in the Audenry household, one of them was half-disassembled as part of someone’s weird side project, and Pellex’s dad had taken the working one out. So, their taxi driving off, he waved to his companions as another taxi pulled up to the curb. Sliding inside, Pellex gave the driver Ploris’ address, and almost laughed at how normal the interaction was. Knowing Ploris, he was sure this brief moment of familiarity would only be a short reprieve.