The first thing William did was ask around and see which citizens would be interested in moving to the Desert.

"The Desert would be really nice," Akbar the Dye Trader said.

"It wouldn't be my first choice," Luigi the Painter said. "But I'd prefer it over this boring Forest. I need to get out there and see some different scenery!"

"Ya know, the Desert is secluded and great for business, if you catch my drift," Tony the Arms Dealer said. He put an arm around Emily the Nurse, and said, "Whattaya say, babe? Would you like to move out to the Desert?"

Emily seemed to blush. "Um... sure."

Tony gave her a kiss on her nurse cap.

"I guess that settles it," William said. "I'll build four houses in the Desert, and set up the Desert Pylon there, while also setting up the Forest Pylon, which I previously bought from Tony, here."

Which will be one village down. But why stop there?

***

Robyn sat at the lake she frequented, crates and fish piled up beside her.

"Hey, Robyn," a voice came.

It was William.

She turned around where she was sitting and spotted him padding towards her. He stepped onto the platform she'd built out over the lake and sat down next to her, his legs dangling over the edge.

"How goes your fishing?" he asked.

"I've... caught a lot of crates as you can see here," she said, patting the nearest crate.

"Impressive," he said.

Silence fell between them.

"I also caught these boots," Robyn said, raising up one of her feet to show him, crossing her leg across her other leg. They were bright blue and had ocean-blue fins coming off behind them.

"What do they do?" William asked.

"They're Sailfish Boots. They work like Sid's Hermes Boots," she explained.

"Nice. I got one of those myself, from the Snow biome. Flurry Boots." He raised his shoe and similarly crossed it across his leg, placing the heel against hers. The contact made her flutter inside.

"I..." she trailed off, suddenly losing what she was about to say.

"I wanted to ask you something," William said. "Well, two things."

She tensed.

"First, Sid and I have been mining while you've been fishing, and we discovered you can make grappling hooks out of different coloured gemstones."

"Grappling hooks?"

"The Guide said they're handy for climbing hills or around caves. Anyway," he pulled two items out from his inventory and threw them on the ground next to him, "We crafted three hooks, one for each of us. Sid took the green Emerald Hook just because it kind of matched his hair. That leaves this red Ruby Hook or the blue Sapphire Hook."

"I'd like the blue one," Robyn said.

William seemed to raise a pixelated eyebrow. "That was a fast response."

"It's my favourite colour," she said, looking down at the ground, now feeling a bit embarrassed.

William looked out at the water. "I don't remember if I had a favourite colour."

"I've kind of decided it's blue now," Robyn said. "The colour of the sky at daytime, and the colour of the water where I fish."

The colour of safety.

She stood to pick up the Sapphire Hook, and William picked up the remaining Ruby Hook.

"I'm hoping next time we face off against the Brain, these will come in handy since we're fighting it underground," William said. "Now, the second thing I came to you about. To solve the... overcrowding problem of the citizens in base, I'm going to build some new villages for them." He motioned off to the distance with one of his arms. "One in the Desert, which I'm about to head off and do, and," he pointed in the other direction, "One in the Snow biome."

The Snow biome. "Wow," Robyn said, almost involuntarily. "I mean... that sounds cool. Creative, too."

"Thanks," William said, smiling and looking down at the water. Robyn did so too, staring at their reflections. At his reflection.

"We're going to link it up with Pylons, too," he added. "So we can teleport between each village."

"Cool," she said again. "So... um, what did you want me to do?"

William turned back to face her.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to... you know... go to the Snow biome and pick a nice spot for the Snow village?"

"Um..." Robyn hesitated. "I guess I can do that, but... if you're going to be building the village, why don't you choose?"

"Because... I guess I don't want to feel like I'm making all the decisions? I mean, I value your creative input, and Sid's, too, if you have any..."

"It's fine," Robyn said. "I'll do it."

***

In truth, one reason why she'd agreed to his request was because she'd begun feeling like she'd caught every type of fish that could be caught in the Forest, and was curious if fishing in different biomes led to different catches. It would also be a nice change of scenery.

The Snow biome was vast, but largely flat, with lots of boreal trees densely packing the area. Some Ice Slimes leaped after her, but they were too slow to keep up with her Sailfish Boots.

She thought back to that encounter with William. The way their boots had touched... something about it made her feel... good? Nervous?

She felt like she was getting to trust him more and more, and she'd realised something about him - of the three of them, it had been her and William who had been more scared of the new world around them when they'd first woken up. But once they'd taken down the Eye, he'd seemed to have stopped being so scared, now with a purpose to work towards: Getting stronger, building up villages, and discovering the answers to the big questions about this world.

Robyn was sure she wouldn't have been able to handle all that if she'd been on her own, so William both focussing so much on those goals while also being there for her and looking out for her... something about that comforted her.

After some time, she came to a large frozen lake. She spotted penguins sliding across the lake, some of them diving into the water. Framing the lake, to both the left and the right, were sets of mountains that rose sharply into the air, some of them seemingly touching the clouds.

Wow, she thought, This might be a good spot for the Snow village. Especially if built into the side of one of the mountains... imagine the view!

She sat down near a section of the lake where the water was exposed, and cast her line inside.

The cold bit at her skin, but the warmth of a campfire she placed enabled her to tolerate sitting by the frozen lake as she fished. It wasn't long for her theory that different biomes had different fish to be confirmed, as she pulled up some Atlantic Cod and Frost Minnows. Then she was surprised to find a new type of crate – a Frozen Crate. Eager to see what was inside, she opened it up.

Inside was a pair of Ice Skates.

"These'll be fun!" she said out loud.

She put them in one of her empty accessory slots. Even though she was already wearing Sailfish Boots, which were logically something else that went on her feet, both items seemed to function. She skated out across the ice, past some of the penguins, then did a spinning jump complete with a double-jump from her Tsunami in a Bottle.

She found herself giggling upon landing.

That was fun! I'm so glad William made me came out here...

She wondered what he'd think of the spot she'd picked out for the village.

Then she was struck with an impulsive wish that William could be here.

Ice-skating with her.

She found herself involuntarily and uncontrollably smiling and blushing at the thought, for some reason she could not explain... unless... no, it couldn't be...

Her train of thought was thrown off the rails when she slid to the other side of the lake and laid her eyes on what she would come to know as the Dungeon.

It was a dark building, standing out in stark contrast to the white snow all around it. It rested on top of a hill that sloped gently up from the lake. It appeared to have a large entrance with a hanging section held up with pillars, and beyond that, a larger building with battlements.

What is this place? she wondered. They'd found some man-made-looking structures underground before, but none this big. And certainly none on the surface.

She cautiously trudged up the snowy hill towards it, her golden bow held ready. The snow slowly turned into dark blue brick, carved out in a long staircase. Her boots padded on the old brick, and eventually she ascended to the entrance.

There, she spotted someone with their back to her. An old man, fittingly labelled 'Old Man: 250/250'. He appeared haggard, with wild, long grey hair, a red cloak, and torn blue jeans.

"Hello?" Robyn called.

The Old Man turned around, and Robyn found herself staring into his red eyes.

Glowing with some sort of energy, swirling with darkness.

"Who are you, stranger?" the Old Man asked.

His accent sounded vaguely familiar to Robyn, like something she might hear in the real world. Posh and antiquated, but at the same time gaunt and weary. This man looked and sounded like he'd been under some sort of burden for years.

"My name is... Robyn," she said, hesitating. "What about you?"

The Old Man said nothing, only raggedly breathing in the cold wind.

"Do you need any... help?" she asked.

"I... do," the Old Man said, then raised one of his arms and coughed into it. "But not now. Come back at night if you wish to enter."

"Enter?" Robyn looked beyond him, beyond the entrance of the Dungeon. In the darkness that lay beyond it was impossible to tell what was contained within.

"I cannot let you enter until you free me of my curse," he said.

Curse? She looked at his unnatural eyes again. The way they glowed red, the way yellow energy seemed to swirl around them.

"Now tell me about you, stranger," the Old Man said, dragging out the word 'you.' "Do you possess the strength to defeat my master?"

"I..." Robyn hesitated. "Not on my own. But my friends..."

"Tell me about your friends then," he said, stepping forward. His eyes seemed to glow brighter as he got closer. "Do they?" He looked at her slowly from top to bottom, as though sizing her up. Robyn tightened her grip on her bow, in case she had to fire.

"If they stand at a similar strength to you, then you are far too weak to defeat my curse," he said. He stepped right up to her, only thirty centimetres away, and looked at her directly in the eyes. "Come back when you aren't so worthless."

Robyn tore her eyes away from his and ran as fast as her Sailfish Boots could carry her down the hill.