Tad and Zanna jogged back to the cathedral. Tad could hear the buzzing from the bridge. Lamruil was with Nico near the stairs leading up into the cathedral.

"Do either one of you know what's going on in there? " asked Tad as he and Zanna came to a stop.

Nico shrugged. Lamruil was looking at the flight on an arrow he placed back in his quiver, "The bee is currently sitting on top of the artifact. I believe it is waiting for the vampire to come out when the sun goes down. "

Tad shook his head, sighing for the hundredth time today. He looked out at the sun, which was just touching the top of the cliffs. It would be sundown soon and full darkness an hour after that. He needed to figure out what the consort and queen wanted here, which had something to do with Synethaes. He looked at Zanna. He nodded slightly to her, then turned and walked up the stairs.

He went through the arched doorway and saw the large bee. It looked bigger than the last time he had seen it. He was hoping that was just a trick of the light, but as he neared it, he realized it was easily a hand or two taller. He stood in front of it and used his empathy to sense what the bee was feeling. The bee saw him and shifted to put him directly in front of its eyes. Tad sensed a connection, but it wasn't with the consort. Somehow he was communicating with the queen through this bee.

"Hello? " projected Tad to the queen.

He felt the queen speak. It was the oddest thing as the consort was relaying his connection to her. "Thaddius Rockgrip, Champion of the Goddess Gweleth, I request you order your minion to open this artifact and let my consort dispatch that vile creature. " Tad received a vision from her of the consort holding Synethaes in the sun while stinging over and over with its stinger. The consort had a great deal more chitin armor than the worker bee seen visiting the tree's flowers daily. Tad wasn't sure the consort could do this, but it wouldn't matter much in the sun. Most undead but especially vampires, couldn't tolerate it.

"I can not allow that, and I know what it is, and unfortunately, I need this creature to help me cure the woman caught in a vampiric curse," said Tad. Tad projected an image of Jack with Aea, hoping that would help calm the queen.

"This is unacceptable, the undead have no place among the living, and every moment it exists, it is an affront to all life. " responded the queen with a snappish feeling.

"I agree, but nonetheless, I have a magical bonded promise that it can not break. We will be leaving tonight after dark to pursue our quest. Our goddess Gweleth understands the need to resolve this quickly. I will work to contain the evil she represents, and I have already ordered her not to harm or feed on anyone without my permission. I will work to find a solution that will resolve the issue after our quest is completed, " replied Tad.

The queen didn't respond for several moments. Tad hoped she was communing with Gweleth. He had no desire to cause an issue with the queen. As a few minutes passed, he waited, and the queen spoke, "I have discussed this with our goddess, and I will aid you in your quest. " His link with the consort bee ended as the bee's wings flapped quickly, and it lifted off the artifact. Tad could feel the air from the wings as it flew through the large doorway of the cathedral and out of sight.

Tad looked over at the cooking area and didn't see any food out, and the ladies who had tended the area were gone.

"Kettle is everything ok in there? " projected Tad looking at the slightly ajar door to the artifact.

"Yes, it appears to be fine, " said Kettle.

Tad looked around. He wondered if it was too late to go swimming again. Well, at least he could enjoy some food on the steps with Zanna.

Tad sat outside the cathedral and motioned Zanna to sit next to him. His stomach growled again. He reached out, tapped on her soulspace, and waited for her to invite him in so they could chat privately. She did, and Tad found himself standing on a large tree limb that extended from a giant tree half a mile above a forest. He saw a small structure near the trunk where the limb joined. The space was easily twenty feet wide and flat, rounding down sharply at the edges.

Zanna stood in front of the small house. "Amazing, this is really nice, " said Tad looking off at the view of the trees and then back and Zanna.

"Thank you, Gweleth said I should pick something that makes me feel comfortable, and this spot was very.. " she paused a second, thinking of the word, " comforting."

Tad thought about that, he half thought she might pick the inside of the genie bottle or something else, but this was definitely a great choice. Tad almost felt the tree giving calming thoughts.

Tad heard another voice, "I liked it too, " said Esta, who appeared then as her Averraen form. Tad had never seen an Averraen before. She was an elf smaller than the ones from Lamruils world, but her grown wings made up for that. Zanna had said these people had been destroyed. What did that mean exactly?

Tad smiled at Esta and bowed slightly, "Nice to see you, Esta. Are you the one that has been teaching Zanna how to use soulmancy? " asked Tad.

Esta gave a charming smile, "Some, Gweleth has been a great help, " said Esta.

Tad looked at Zanna, "Did they teach you how to overlay your soulspace while you do things with your physical body? Like eating? "

"No, it takes all my skill to keep this soulspace and the shield, " said Zanna.

Tad hadn't thought about it till she mentioned it, but most of his early years had been spent growing his mana pool playing fey chess with Jack, and learning other magics with his mother and Filbert the magician. He had almost daily been pushing his magic to its limits.

"It will grow as you use it more. Soon you will be able to keep the thought shield up without even thinking about it with little noticeable loss of mana. I think as your pool grows, absorbing mana will be faster also. I do not notice keeping mine up. As you get better, you will be able to enhance the protection, too, " said Tad thinking of his improved cathedral soulspace.

"It is not very hard here with Esta sharing mana from the tree. That is what I used when we fought at the gate. I don't think I can cast many healing spells if I'm not near a source like that, " said Zanna.

That made sense to Tad. He had never had someone to talk with that didn't perform magic better than him. Lamruil rarely discussed magic or soulmancy either. The elf also keeps forgetting to share that haste spell, probably on purpose. Nico never discussed magic.

"Since you are sitting down, I'll share how I overlay my soulspace on the things around me. It can also be used to speed up your perception of time, making things appear slower. I use this when fighting, " Tad closed his eyes and thought about the soulspace ability, then he projected it to her in a rush of images and energia formula. Zanna staggered, leaning back a moment on the steps. Tad smiled when he remembered how long it took to get used to Jack teaching him that way.

"Oh, I see. That should not be too difficult," said Zanna sitting straighter. Tad watched his external view of the stairs, the tree roots, and the island as a whole came into view around them. A soft blue-green image overlaying the tree branch soulspace.

"Yea, good work. Do you want to eat now? " asked Tad, pointing to the basket, his stomach grumbling again.

Tad watched Zanna as she worked to control her soulmancy while eating and talking to him simultaneously. She was picking it up quickly.

"I need to talk to Gweleth about starting a paladin order. I already have two squires in training; I doubt those will be the last. You and I will also need to discuss how to run the new church and what to do with clergy and training. " Tad didn't tell her about the many city options for the valley in his book. Kettle had a long list of descriptions waiting for him when he wanted to spend the time. The empty spots for artisans and other professions also needed to be addressed.

"Gweleth has already discussed this with me. I'm to find believers suitable for the tasks of a growing temple. She left some of it up to me. She was specific about followers only. It means I need to find or convert people to fill the roles. I have never done this before, Tad. I will need help completing this. I also need to write down our rituals for later and many other things about our new religion. It is a religion, and we need to take it more seriously, or we will fail. If we fail, this valley and its protection will fail. " Zanna stopped there, holding a chunk of mushroom near her mouth while she thought.

Tad nodded to her, "We can do this. Let's start putting our thoughts about it down somewhere and organize once we get enough. We can put it in order of importance and see how it feels before we share it. " Tad spent the next hour discussing this with Zanna as more people came to the cathedral to get food. The dwarves had brought mushrooms up from the cavern, and several people walked by with a couple of cleaned fish each. At least food wouldn't be an issue for a little while.

"Zanna, I need to find Bernard before we leave tonight. Can you find Lamruil and Nico? We will gather an hour after supper, also can you ask the cooks to give us some extra food. Let's say five days for five people. I'll store it in the workshop while we travel.

"Can't we just come back here each morning?" asked Zanna.

"That's a good idea, but I do not think Gweleth will have the mana for this portal. The amulet can only open one portal every other day. She told me she could only open it once a day at most. I have not tried to open it from a remote area. She is using her magic in other work around the valley, and the mana she uses to open the gate will take away from her other tasks. She is also helping with all that green growth outside, changing the desert back to forests. Let's assume five days for now. We will also need a blood pod or two for Synethaes," said Tad.

Zanna nodded, then she stood and went into the cathedral carrying her basket. Tad went to find Bernard.

Tad found Bernard in the big tent near the city ruins. He was at his table writing things down in a ledger, and there was a stack of them in front of him.

"Bernard, how is the rebuilding going? How are things progressing?" asked Tad.

"Tad, good to see you. Take that chair there. I have several updates and a few questions," said Bernard pointing at a seat nearby.

"Ok, where to start. " Bernard flipped open one of the ledgers. "Pay: you have 7,454 gold left as of today. This is everything you had in that little chest, along with the gems. You are paying 9 silver per month for craftsmen and builders right now. There are many people helping with that. You are paying 3 silvers per month to farmers and fishermen, who also get a bonus for their catch which is roughly 5 silver per month. You have 127 people in the valley, counting Kizzac and the other dwarves who will not accept silver as payment. You should talk to those dwarves, they might not need that coin now, but they will once real trade starts back up. Overall you are in great shape for gold, even if we throw in future costs for materials if we can find some source. You should be able to easily house and pay these folks for their work for a year if you don't start buying things you don't need, " said Bernard. He closed the ledger and placed it to the side, opening a second one.

"Food is a bit of a problem. Luckily we have the mushroom grove, which is regrowing faster than the dwarves expected. For as long as that lasts, you have enough food. The beastkin pride farmers are already working on fields south of the city here, and they believe your first harvest of wheat, flax, and squash will be a month if this growth magic continues. Fishing is improving now that the fishermen aren't getting those headaches when they catch the blue fish. They don't' have a name, but migraine might be a good one. Migraine fish, " said Bernard.

"Ha, those are the goddess's chosen fish. Don't catch those if you can," said Tad smiling.

Bernard coughed and cleared his throat,"Catch them, who would want to do that? They laid a man out for almost a day when he pulled one out of the water. We have found a way to catch the other fish with some help from the magician Filbert. The blue ones no longer go after the bait, so we should be good with fishing. Now, if we could increase those blood pods, you will have plenty of food for these folks as long as the valley's magic holds to the first harvest of the wheat fields. "

Tad was happy to hear that. He had been very worried about food. The goddess was obviously helping them, and he would take any help she offered.

Bernard opened another ledger, "Now inventories are going to be an issue. We are running low very quickly on tools. Most importantly, metal tools. Chisels, hammers, saws, nails, and nails will be our biggest issue in a few weeks once we start bringing in lumber. Log saws and axes might be second on that list. Now I've talked to Kizzac, and he believes if we can supply the dwarves with iron, they will create tools for our use. That is good and all, but I'd prefer if you found a way to set up a smelter and forge here in the valley. Relying on others for something so basic is a bad plan in my book. We have a small smithy and anvil in the wagon, but we have very little iron for these things. If you are planning on forging tools, you are going to need a source of heat. Coal is the best, even if it's made from trees. Iron ore will need to be found and we need lumber. The lumber might resolve itself shortly, but at the same time, if we could find a quicker source of lumber, perhaps using that portal you have, that would save us much time. Drying wood to make good lumber can be tedious, and we are not set up to do that right now. Lastly, I would recommend we set up at least one pottery kiln. We have limited dishes and pots to use, and if your city grows any larger, we will have to wash the ones we have and eat in shifts. And good pots we can use to store food safely away from vermin. " He stopped there and closed the ledger. "Now we have managed to build five full houses with roofs as of today. Each of these is currently housing several people. We lack furniture such as beds, tables, and chairs. We can do without the tables and chairs, but not the beds. This leads back to dry lumber for beds and roofs. "

Tad nodded. He knew about the lumber issue. He didn't know you had to dry it, though. That was a problem. "I'll see if I can find a source of lumber. Right now, the Gate of Stars has limited uses, we do not have enough magic to use it more than once a day, twice in an emergency, but then we would have to wait a few more days to do that again. If, for some reason, we have to flee here, I want to make sure we have the magic to do so. Can't we use mushroom stalks for this? "

"We thought of that. Stalks of the mushrooms bend and dry rot quickly in the sun. It's great underground, but out here in the sun, it is not going to last very long. The treatment process to make them last in the sun can take years. We are considering making beds out of stone, at least framing them with stone. The problem is we don't have the special chisels to do that and make the roof supports. Given some time, we can get this all done, but it won't be quick, " said Bernard closing the ledger in front of him and grabbing the one he was working in when Tad arrived.

Tad nodded, "Anything else important I should know about? "

"Not at the moment. The folks seem to be having a grand time of things right now. They are treating it as an extended camping trip with a reward at the end. They also enjoy the meat from those pods. As long as you can keep supplying some of those every week, they should be content enough. You are paying them to have a campout. What's not to like? " said Bernard.

"Good. I am going away for a few days. You can contact me through Kettle in the World Egg just don't go in there at night if you can help it. Aea will be in there. No point in tempting fate. Also, there are small minotrons working on the sewers and water piping to the falls north of here. If you see small metal men walking around arguing with each other, that is them. They will be fixing the fountains at some point, and after that, privy houses. Kettle is coordinating their work. They can also help with buildings once that is done. I'll let Kettle decide how to best use their time for now. Bernard, if you could keep doing what you are doing, everything should be fine. The valley's protections are up. You could move some wards into the city here and spread them around where you think is best. Just leave a few around the cathedral and Fey Tree near the Gate of Stars. I am sure I forgot many things and know even less. Just use your best judgment or ask Kettle. Any questions? " asked Tad

"What do you want us to do with the buildings around the fountain? You didn't want us using them, but some of the craftsmen would like to fix them up and start using them for their trades. Could we make this a small market here? Several of the merchants that came here have some portion of their wares to sell once we get the housing issues resolved," said Bernard.

Tad thought about this for a few moments. "See if we have any smiths that want a steady job. Keep the main building that looks like a tower for my use. It should have a map under the dirt on the floor, and many statues are carved into the walls. It also has the only entrance to the caverns other than the temple in it. The top floors are gone. I want that one. Also, keep one of the buildings next to that which is larger. I have someone in mind for that. You can fix it up to be a common area for gathering. The rest do what you think is best, " said Tad.

Bernard wrote these things down, "Tad, you should look for a city manager or someone that can help deal with all this as it grows. I was a good carnival quartermaster, but much of this I've never dealt with before. I'll continue to do my best, but there are limits to what I know, we could also use a real architect if you find one. Especially if you are thinking about fixing up that tower in the center of town."

"I'll do what I can, Bernard. Thank you for all your help. I'd be lost without you. Perhaps once we find Samphire, all of this will change, and we can go back on the road. Hang in there. I'll look for someone, " said Tad smiling at the older man. He really did like Bernard, and his help has been invaluable. Tad could see the stress on him, the lines of age around his eyes. Tad would look for someone that can help, perhaps hire a Librarian, or maybe they know of someone.

"Ok then, I'll see you in a few days, " said Tad. He needed to find Naula before he left. He wanted to show her how that spiral silk was made.

***