Fur cloak wrapped tightly around my body, I stood beside the stone statue of Trismegistus with Zosimos perched on my shoulder. Impatiently, I watched as ten cloaked figures, and two horses made their way across the wide snow covered plateau towards the temple.

“It’s about time.” I grumbled as they drew closer, wishing I’d stayed inside the temple instead of coming out to greet them.

“You better have heating in this joint! It’s colder than a polar bear's ice hole out here.” Kip complained, stomping the snow off his boots as he entered the temple.

A polar bear's, what? The words had barely left his mouth, when a feminine voice began yelling from somewhere in the midst of the group, speaking rapidly in what sounded like Spanish. As a second shorter figure shoved her way past the taller members of the group, the dwarf visibly cowered, hands held up defensively.

“Ma, it was a joke.” He pleaded weakly, backing away from the woman who began gesturing at the snow covered floors. “Si, si, I’ll clean it.”

Finished yelling at her son, May turned to me, pulling down her hood as she did so.

“I am sorry dear, mi hijo has no manners.” She sighed, shaking her head. “He likes to think himself a funny boy, but all he does is make the fool.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me, Mrs. Kirkland. I’m used to Kip's jokes by now.” I told the female dwarf, besides, Pia’s jokes are a lot worse. I thought, eyes drifting over to the Faun who was stomping her own feet while smirking at Kip as she purposefully tramped more snow onto the stone floor.

“There’s no need for that dear, just May, or even auntie May is fine.” Kip's mother said gently, and I struggled to keep my face void of emotion, as she spun around to snarl at Pia in Spanish, causing the Faun to freeze in place. It was amusing to watch the woman go from sweet to savage in the blink of an eye, especially when it was directed at Kip, and Pia.

Hearing her scolding the pair almost left me wishing I’d learnt Spanish, but I’d chosen to spend my time on the languages in which more historical texts were written.

“I’ve built a temporary stable over there for the horses, it’s got a furnace inside to keep them warm, but for now bring them inside the temple to unload the bags.” I told Victoria, who nodded, leading her gray shire horse into the temple, followed by one of her brothers who led my black stallion, Arion.

As we reached the end of the passageway, I found Meissa in the hall, along with three of her disciples, all of whom were staring in wide eyed horror, when they saw the horses being led into the central hall of the temple.

“Meissa, these are the members of the Eternia guild I spoke to you about. They bring supplies from Bovia, and will be assisting in the temple for now.” I informed the priestess, who nodded, plastering a smile on her face as I made introductions.

“Blessed be you all, we are grateful that you have offered your aid.” Meissa said gently, inclining her head, before turning to look at me. “My disciples and I were about to retire for the day, however, if you require we can remain to assist with the new arrivals.”

After politely refusing the woman’s offer, and inviting her to join me for a meal when she woke at dusk, I turned my attention back toward my guild mates as the priestess departed the hall with her disciples.

“This door leads to the left clergy tower, which is where you can stay. Noctus is in one of the rooms on the third floor of the tower.” I explained, leading the group down the passage, and into the large circular dining hall. “This first level is a dining room, and at the rear is a kitchen. The door to the right leads out into a small courtyard, with access to a cellar for food storage. The stairs go up to the second level, which has a bathroom, and communal sleeping quarters. The sleeping quarters are split into two rooms with four sets of bunks in each. If you continue up the stairs past the second level entrance, you’ll reach the top floor where there are four private rooms for higher ranking staff.”

“Dibs on a private room,” Pia called, but I held up my hand to cut her off.

“I’m sorry Pia, but Darius will be here soon, so will have one of the rooms, and I’ve been told Yuki is also on her way after returning to Caruan. She departed this morning through the portal to Rivera, so will be here in a few days.” I told the faun who pouted.

“You said four rooms, that still leaves one.” The faun pointed out, and in response I shook my head, pointing to the dark haired dwarven woman who was ordering Victoria’s brothers to begin unpacking the food. Seeing where I was pointing, Pia instantly stopped complaining, and nodded her head.

With the horse’s unburdened, and everyone unpacking supplies under May’s supervision. I took hold of the rope attached to Arion’s halter, leading him to the stables, with Victoria following.

The stable I’d built was no more than a large rectangular room, with a stone floor, and a furnace built into one wall. Two windows were positioned on opposite walls, with stone louvers set at an angle. This would provide the horses fresh air, while hopefully preventing the chilly wind from blowing directly into the room.

“I was hoping one of your brothers would be able to forge some hinges, as I’m still struggling with transmuting metal.” I told the tall red skinned woman as I used transmutation to create an opening in the stone wall.

I’d already placed two of the fire cores, which were carved with the undying fire array, in the furnace, so the stable was warm. But the heat quickly escaped the room as a rush of cool air blew in through the opening.

“I’ll have them build a proper door if that suits. There are plenty of trees around, and a wooden door will be easier to open than a stone one.” She offered, eyes scanning the makeshift stable. “We’ll need some kind of bedding for the horses, but for now this will do to keep them out of the cold.”

“This is only temporary, as I’m planning on building a bigger stable. I’m sure others visiting the temple will have mounts so I’ll need somewhere for them to be kept.” I said with a sigh, mentally cursing the god for his oversight in not providing one with the temple.

“Is the entire plateau claimed by your patron?” Victoria asked, glancing around with interest.

“Only the temple itself belongs to Trismegistus, the land around it I claimed for myself when I built the stable.” I told her, glancing around at the empty land around the temple. “I claimed twenty acres, which was enough to cover the plateau, and about a hundred meters beyond.”

The last thing I wanted was to repeat the same mistake the guild made in Sēkrit, and allow anyone to claim the land around the temple. I planned to eventually add a wall around the entire plateau, adding buildings for outer disciples to stay in, along with multifunctional workspaces, and areas to cultivate plants. The best part was, I wouldn’t even need to build it myself.

Once disciples started showing up, I could assign them the task of building the wall, and buildings under the guise of training their ability to transmute matter. Even those learning alchemy, and astral magic could help. With the alchemists working to cultivate the plants, and the astrologists casting astral blessings to speed the growth of those plants, along with blessings to increase mana regeneration. If the disciples contributed, then hopefully, the school I planned to build around the temple would quickly take shape.

I was hesitant to ask Darius for help from the guild, but hoped that once I told him of my plans, he’d offer Eternia’s aid without prompting. Waiting for the guild leader's arrival was stressful to say the least, as I was worried how he’d react to the events in Airus. Noctus didn’t seem overly bothered by losing the guild's grasp on the city, but he’d also likely not had the chance to fully process the ramifications of what had occurred.

“Those sound like some interesting ideas, but I think before you go building a wall, you should focus on a road.” Victoria said, inclining her head toward the distant town of Bovia. “With all the temples popping up, Bovia is about to become a very popular destination. Kip’s already spent all our team's savings buying a store in the town. He’s planning to set up a business there for Auntie May to run.”

“He brought a store? Where did he get all the gold?” I asked, eyes wide.

“We’ve been planning on buying a business for a while Foxy, why do you think we hunt so much? Auntie May used to run one of the guild shops in Airus, which were leased from the city, but owning the store ourselves means keeping more of the profits. We’ll still need to pay guild dues to bring it under the guilds banner, but it’s cheaper than dues, and rent.” She explained as we made our way back to the temple. “We’ll be able to sell it for a lot once the town expands, if we decide we don’t want to run it anymore.”

“I just thought you were battle crazy maniacs.” I murmured, getting an amused chuckle from the tall woman in response.

“That too, but it gets boring after a while. There’s more to life than running from one fight to the next.” Victoria shrugged, gesturing to the temple. “Plus, I’m guessing we aren’t prying you out of this place anytime soon. It’s not a bad location to settle in for the time being. Close to good resources, and a soon to be bustling town.”

“You don’t have to stay you know,” I said softly, looking up at her as we stopped outside the entrance to the left tower. “Darius will put someone else on your team to replace me.”

“Not happening, Foxy,” she said with a firm shake of her head. “You’re ours. If you want to play in the temple, that’s fine, but we’re a team, even if we aren’t always together.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so stayed silent as we entered the tower. Leaving Victoria to make her way upstairs to enjoy a warm bath after the long trek through the snow. I headed for the nearby hearth, and the large basket which sat before it.

Kneeling next to the basket, I pried open the lid, and was met with a pair of bright golden eyes staring back at me. Tears began to pool at the corners of my own eyes, and barely managed to keep my balance as the reptilian feline launched himself out of the basket.

“Leo.” I breathed out the cub's name with a sigh of relief, holding him tightly, and rubbing my cheeks against his as he nuzzled at my face with low rumbling purrs.

“How long have you been awake, no one said you’d woken up yet!” I asked the cub, not expecting a reply from the creature, but got one from Rainy who approached from the kitchens.

“He woke up this morning before we left, ate three chickens, and all of Kips bacon then went back to sleep. It’s the first time he’s eaten, or been that active so I was going to wait until we saw you to let you know.”

“Three chickens? I don’t think he’s ever eaten that much in one sitting before,” I murmured, poking at the cubs belly, which did appear to be rather distended.

“Three chickens, and my bacon!” Kip corrected out as he entered the room. “That little thief ate my breakfast.”

“You’ve got no need for bacon, mi gordito.” May called, poking her head out the kitchen door, and waving a wooden spoon at the dwarf.

“Mi gordito?” I asked Rainy in a whisper, as Kip began speaking to his mother in a flurry of Spanish.

“My chubby, or fatty I think.” She translated, reaching out a hand to scratch Leo’s back affectionately. “It’s good to see him up. I made him a jacket, and booties, but I’m not sure if it’ll do much good.”

I laughed, trying to imagine the red scaled feline wearing a jacket and booties. Somehow, I doubted Leo would willingly allow himself to be dressed in either item, or keep them on if I did manage to get him to wear them.

“The temple is heated, so I’m hoping he’ll be okay while he is inside.” I told her, shifting my hold on the Leosaur who seemed intent on burying himself inside my fur cloak. “I’m hoping that once I’ve worked out the frost elixir, it will be effective on animals as well. If not, then I will need to find another method of keeping him warm, but in the meantime, when he wants to go outside, it’ll be with Pyr or myself.”

“Do you think Co-leader Noctus may be able to help? In Bovia, there was an enchanter selling bracers that could keep a person warm, but they were horridly expensive.” The dryad said, eyes drifting to the stairs which led up to the second and third floors. “Is he alright? I would have thought with all the racket he would have come down.”

“He’s…” I hesitated, not sure if I should tell her about Noctus’s condition or not. “He was tired, and said he planned to sleep until nightfall.”

Rainy nodded, the concern in her expression easing as she returned her attention to Leo, who’d given up trying to make a nest out of my cloak, and was dozing on my lap.

“Hopefully, he knows the enchantment used on the bracers.” She said, and I nodded.

If he doesn’t already know it, then that poor enchanter will soon find himself missing a pair of bracers. Noctus won’t let the chance of learning a new enchantment slip him by, I thought, lips twitching into a smile as I began imagining the vampire chasing down some poor enchanter to steal his bracers.