February 28, 2019, 11:17 am. The reign of the rabbit princess continues!

When I rejoin the party in Raz’s common room, there's a flurry of motion. We're clearly getting ready to head out, and I catch the words, 'moving out of alignment', and realize what the hurry is about. Not wanting to be trapped here anymore than the rest, I jog over to the lobby. I'm there before Roberts and Tipan, both of whom are still conducting business with Raz.

When they arrive, we dial our exit directly to Glimmering Sands instead of using Nexus point 392. No point in teleporting twice.

The next hour is spent checking in on the former Fallen and meeting up with Vethel. While I was off experimenting with my new subclass, the others decided on some short- and long-term goals, which I agreed to after Wyonna filled me in. Top of the list for our short-term goals? Head into the mana-beetle puzzle-dungeon and clear it for the easy rewards. Tipan will be sitting it out, something about visiting her mother.

Which reminds me I need to talk with her.

Taking her aside, I let Rufka know we'll be back in half an hour or so then guide Tipan up the beach. Which is still lacking the amazing waves from the festival.

"Hey. So... remember when you were in the crazy place with the K'mintar, trying to throw your life away to get a book back?" I ask, nice and subtle-like as I link my arm with hers to prevent her from escaping.

"I... that place was rather mind-wrenching, wasn't it? The ghastly monsters? And the spider-beings," Tipan shudders, shaking her head.

"Ha. Nice try," I reply, pointing at where the book is again strapped to her waist. "I'm talking about that. And the crazy place was where your head was, not your body."

"I... you wouldn't... you can’t…" Tipan looks away, staring at a particularly interesting patch of smooth stone wall.

"Can’t what? Understand why you've been keeping it from everyone that you're hearing Ivicka's voice when you read the book?" I ask, pulling Tipan to a stop as a wave laps gently at our feet. "Or are you more worried about whatever you learned once Jethico took over?"

Tipan stares at me, her mouth hanging open.

So, I tap her forehead. "My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts." When she doesn't get it, I sigh. "Even Beth would've got that one, such a wasted opportunity. I connected to you when you were visiting the K'mintar, and the connection broke, remember? Some of your memories came with. Remember how I mentioned that happening with Beth? Same thing."

"I... it's one thing to hear about, another to... you heard her voice? I haven't lost my mind?" Tipan grabs me, and stares into my eyes, squeezing my arms as if seeking reassurance I’m real.

"Uhm. Well, you did charge into the K'mintar's secret complex of impossible to kill beasts. So, we're not ruling crazy out quite yet. But that's more Rufka style crazy than... I'm not helping, am I?"

Tipan smiles, releasing my arms before breaking into a laugh. She returns to my side, shoving against my hip. "Actually, that was rather refreshing. Rufka style crazy?"

"Mhm. Jumping off a cliff without a flight spell. Fighting a ten-story dinosaur with nothing but an unenchanted bow and her arrows. Sleeping next to a firebomb that could explode at any second," I say, pulling her further north and away from a group of K'tharn who are coming down the beach with what looks like a Desh’mersa setup. I'm good on that game for a long time.

"Smoulder's not that unstable," Tipan replies as her eyes dart towards the K'tharn who are setting up their goal posts. But she continues walking without mentioning them.

"Wasn't talking about Smoulder," I chuckle. "Rufka just... accepting that I might explode like it's no big deal has been huge."

"Ah. It must be... nice. To have a thiani you're so close to," Tipan says, her eyes looking towards the tower where her former thiani still works. The one who carves figurines of us… Hmm.

"She did say sorry," I remind Tipan, thinking back to the brief conversation we had about her ex.

"Through you," Tipan replies. "I've thought about going to talk to her... it's just. Never felt like the right time. I'm not who I was back then."

"Fair. I'm not who you were back then either."

"I... what?" Tipan asks, staring at me for a second before chuckling.

We make our way back to the main road, and I turn us south. "Nothing. But we got off-topic again. The book. Are you... okay? Did you learn what Jethico wanted?"

"Oh... yes. It's rather obvious, isn't it?" Tipan says with a heavy sigh.

"Hmm... to protect the Aetherium?" I guess, with a small shrug.

"No. She wanted to purge all males from the Aetherium."

"I... wait, so that weird hangup... That was all her, huh?"

"I think... I don't expect that Ivicka was herself for years. I'm not certain there was anything left... except for what she left in here,” Tipan says, tapping the book on her waist.

"Damn. Well, if you ever want to talk about it..." I leave it open, and Tipan smiles, giving me a small nod.

"That's why I needed to recover it. I couldn't let her be taken away again."

"Memories of those we love are important," I agree, tugging at the replica of my Aunt Sharon's jacket I'm still wearing.

We lapse into silence for a few minutes, only a little ways away from the inn when Tipan asks, "The... memory thing. Are you able to do it... on purpose?"

"You know... I mean, I can share codexes... but I'm not sure," I reply as we come to a stop.

"Well, if you want to experiment. I wouldn't... there aren't any memories I'd be too embarrassed if you saw. And then you could learn more about the real Ivicka."

"You know, you could just tell me," I point out with a gentle shove, but it only gets a small smile out of her. "I... sure, we'll try."

"Good."

"Hey Tipan."

"Yes Lexi?"

"Are you gonna tell Rose?"

"I... don't know how."

"Hmm. Pretty sure you just use words. Even the wrong ones can get you to the right place. Least, that's mostly what I do."

Tipan's laugh is deep and long, and I can't tell if I'm being laughed at or with. Finally, she recovers, straightening her mohawk with one hand. "I shall take your suggestion under advisement."

"You do that," I grump back, but am unable to maintain it when she giggles again.

Giggling back, we join the others inside, where Pefe has somehow managed to replace most of the available knickknacks yet again. I pick up one that's suspiciously similar to me and Smoulder riding... It is me and Smoulder riding a surfboard. There's one of Rufka too. Maybe Tipan isn’t the only one who should talk to her ex.

Then again…

Despite my displeasure at being carved without permission, I end up buying both from Pefe. Then I promptly gift the statuette of myself to Rufka. And she gives me a copy of the one I just bought of her.

Not that I mention that of course.

Tipan leaves for Aethire shortly after, but not before I give her a quick hug and a reminder not to get too caught up with the book. Once she's gone, the rest of us spend the next few hours relaxing, having to wait for Vethel to have time to escort us to the dungeon personally. Smoulder has refused to come to the underwater dungeon, choosing to wait for me in the inn. Trying to make it up to her, I take her through a small obstacle course on the beach as we wait.

Finally, I get a message that Vethel is ready, and we make our way into the tower. Instead of going up, Vethel takes us down the central shaft of shimmering water. While it's the same in feel and function as the smaller water-elevators that run along the sides, the sheer scale of the central shaft is impressive. And somehow feels bigger on the inside. It's not, but it certainly feels that way.

The central elevator takes us deep beneath the surface. Far deeper than I realized the bay inside the tower was. As we go down, an entire second city is revealed. As is the fact that most of the surface city sits atop a giant empty arch. Around us are thousands of horizontal elevators similar to the one we ride, weaving through ten times as many buildings. Most are lit with gentle purple or blue light, making the entire city seem like something out of a fairy-tale. Smoulder burrows deeper into my pocket, but still can't help but poke her head out. Zooming in with my Twilight-enhanced vision, I notice that only half of the residents seem to be K'tharn. The rest are a mix of dozens of Outworlder species. All of them are traversing the underwater city with no regard for the need to breathe. At least, no regard I can see. I suspect there's a brisk market for water-breathing enchantments.

When we reach a floating platform that seems to connect our elevator to a far larger one leading out to sea, Vethel leads us to the side. The elevator's protection continues to provide a breathable atmosphere as we move to a much smaller horizontal shaft. Not stopping to make sure we're following, Vethel dives into the shaft, leaving us to follow in her literal wake.

It only takes a minute before she pushes her way out of the shaft in front of the single most dungeon-like entrance I've seen on Akilo. It's a marble arch set into a rough stone wall with a pair of heavy wooden doors set in the middle. There are a couple differences, likely due to its underwater location. For one, the arch is technically more of a complete circle. Also, the 'apparent' wood, is in fact mana-infused coral. A fact I only discover after analyzing it.

Once we're all floating in front of the door, I push the water back from our heads, giving us a bubble of fresh air to speak in.

"Convenient," Vethel says, then immediately leaves the bubble. Which reminds me how useful it isn't when we need to be moving. While our party activates the collection of water breathing enchantments Rufka and Tipan put together, the bracelets wrapped tightly around our wrists, Vethel floats down to the centre of the door, pressing a squid-shaped object into the center. The doors shudder, then slowly swing open, revealing a smooth tunnel sloping downward. Along the side, just barely visible in the glow from the city are shining runes. These don't feel like magical runes. In fact, the knowledge I downloaded from Uthica informs me that these are probably a version of M'tari. As my eyes play across them, my System pings, asking me if I'd like to download a codex for the Abyssean language. Deciding not to risk it just yet, I ignore the prompt, floating forward with the others.

Vethel waves us in. Then, once we're through the doors, she pushes them closed. Just as they seal, I see her give us a short bow.

"Iron rank training challenge The Hidden Depths joined."

"Teleportation abilities have been locked to The Hidden Depths combat zone. Flight spells and abilities have been disabled."

"Zone Quest received: Reach the Hidden Depths. Rewards: Variable. 1 Armor Upgrade. Time: 24 hours."

Nothing surprising there.

Activating my new Voidcraft Engineer ability, I'm unable to keep the smile off my face as I look around. Rufka silently chuckles as we move into formation Exploration B, which leaves Roberts and I in the centre with everyone else spread out. It's weird having Rose at the back instead of Tipan, but not as weird as having to talk through group chat.

With our preparations complete, we dive into the Hidden Depths.

Would be a lot cooler if I didn't know about the bugs.