Rusk learned that the reason there weren’t any corpses strewn around Sanctuary any more was because Flow had thrown them into the lava. Apparently that was how her people disposed of corpses. Tradition. So most of the restoration focused on actual rebuilding, not so much cleaning. But there definitely was cleaning. And planning. And more and more cleaning and planning. It was tough with only four people. They worked day and night, taking it in shifts, so that they’d be done by the next year’s solstice. It was the deadline the serpents had set for them, and they all intended to keep it.

No use pissing off a force of nature. That was just a bad idea. So Rusk for the fourth night in a row leaned over a makeshift slab of stone they’d dragged from the rubble to form a table and chewed the end of a purple leaf turned pen going over their plans. They had a wall they had to figure out how to put back up or the entire Stronghold might come down on their heads. He was working out the math. But he wasn’t all that good at math, so eventually Mandy came over and lent her expertise.

It turned out she could pretty much build anything, and with any materials available. So they delegated that Rusk would be the manpower and Mandy and Iraiah would be the brains.

Which left Flow to carve materials. By the end of the planning stages they had lava made into obsidian for most of the materials, but also the bark from those brown and purple trees, sand made into red glass thanks to the volcano’s heat and pressure, and what remnants there were of that white cancellation stone that the Stronghold had been built from in the first place.

Mandy figured a way to conglomerate it all without it looking hideous. And then they got to work on construction for real.

“This is harsher than crawling through the slums after you steal something valuable,” whined Iraiah.

“Yeah, yeah.” Rusk moved a beam made of red stone over one shoulder. Iraiah had fallen and he helped her up. Unlike before she took his help. Girl had a streak of pride he’d never seen anywhere. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Iraiah wiped herself off. She straightened her cloak, the one she rarely ever took off even on the hottest days. Apparently Mandy had made it for her a long time ago and she’d be pained to part with it even for a moment. “Thanks I guess. How much longer you think it’ll take to get this place back to what it was?”

“It’ll never be what it was. It’ll be something new. Hopefully better.”

“You don’t sound very confident, Mister Hero.”

“That’s because I’m not. What if we fail? I mean this job is gigantic. There’s lots that could go wrong.”

“Nah.”

“Nah?”

“Yeah. Nah.” She straightened the top of her cloak with fervor. It was kind of comical honestly. “No one’s here to sabotage us this time around. We’ll figure it out. Or Mandy will since she’s the smart one. You know what I mean.”

Just then Gedresial gave a cry from above and reentered their lives. It hadn’t been very long since he’d gone with Elena to return to Porttegat so everyone turned their faces to the sky and wondered what he was doing back here.

“Ahoy!” said Gedresial.

“Ahoy yourself,” said Iraiah.

“I bring good news.”

“And what news is that?” asked Rusk.

Mandy came up to stand around with Flow by the rest of them.

“Elena is a fantastic ferrywoman.”

“Thanks?” Rusk didn’t know what that really entailed and he didn’t think Gedresial was going to elaborate, but then the little dead bird turned its beak to the sky and gave a laugh. It sounded very odd coming out of a little dead thing.

“What I mean is she’s found a quicker way to and from the island. There’s a smaller town, on an outshoot into the sea that’s not that far away from Porttegat, which makes the journey much quicker. We can bring recruits as soon as the Stronghold is back to its former glory.”

Unfortunately the Stronghold was very far from being back to its former glory. What should’ve been fantastic news turned Rusk’s stomach with nerves. Did that mean he’d have to find a way to get this place fixed that much faster? Then again, there was no telling if they’d even have Hero recruits regardless of whether or not the place was ready. The whole thing was a gigantic what if.

“That means we might be able to recruit builders from that port city near Porttegat, doesn’t it?” Mandy always locked onto the most important angle of any conversation.

“Guess so,” said Iraiah.

“No,” said Rusk. “New rule for the island. Potential Heroes only.”

“Rusk, that’s ridiculous,” said Flow. “Even an island girl like me knows that outside help is sometimes necessary.”

“Oh yeah, and what if that outside help turns against us? Just us four against a whole team of builders? Where does that leave our little refurbished stronghold, hmm? I won’t have it. Not this time around. Too many lives were already lost by allowing outsiders in who didn’t meant to become Heroes in the first place.”

“You’re right,” said Flow. “I’m sorry.”

“Damn right I’m right. And you know what, we should make other safety rules around here too. We’ve got the stone that cancels abilities already. We should change the construction of the stronghold itself so that it’s basically a fortress. Maybe they were taken off guard before because they weren’t prepared for insular dramatics. There needs to be secret passageways that only we founding members know, and a way to keep the peace inside the building itself if anything ever happens. Disputes always happen at some point.”

“You know Rusk,” said Iraiah. “You’re actually a pretty good strategic thinker. Don’t much know about a leader though. Are you sure you want to muddle the trust that incoming recruits already have when they enter the island?”

“What do you mean?”

“She means how would you feel if it were you entering a fortress and the leader of that fortress had already decided you were up to no good,” said Mandy.

“We stick to the original plan,” said Flow. “Yes?”

Rusk pondered. “Alright.”