“Come, come, deary. Edgar and I will show you around.” Hive Queen Aval’Kethrid descended into the tunnels below Emer’Thalis, Tess and Edgar in tow. It had really been too long since she’d visited. Always running around, that one.

Well, no matter. All the more a surprise for her to see!

“Did you do all of this in the past few months?” The settlement owning youth seemed to bear a fascination for the etched patterns on the tunnel walls. Which was curious, actually — Ava could have sworn that the humans needed light to see things, but maybe they’d learned to see in the dark after the city’s renovations. She’d have to ask that delightful barber fellow next time they spoke.

“Oh, some of it. Of course some of it was already waiting here for us. All that dreadful rubble blocking most of our tunnels, but a few cave-ins aren’t enough to collapse an entire city, deary! We’re uncovering more and more every day.” Left unsaid was that the condition of everything was simply dreadful, but stone was a sturdy material, even doubly so when it wasn’t exposed to any wind or rain to wear at it.

As they passed from tunnel to tunnel, Ava was happy to be able to show Tess just how neater and more efficient their space was. Part of that, she thought, was just a preference on the part of her people — those up top did love their open space and sprawl, after all. She would admit, however, that some of it was less about preference and more about practicality, however. Whereas the humans worked in positive space, starting from an empty landscape and adding to it, the kexids did the opposite, carving negative space into the bedrock.

“Here, I believe this one’s empty. Let’s pop in and show you a nice cozy home, shall we?” Ava had seen what passed for housing up top, and she was confident that one look at the options down here would make Tess want to relocate in a hurry. Sure, that darkwood they used made the interior space feel nice and homey, but there was so little style and so much wasted space!

In contrast, the standard kexid domicile was a much snugger affair. A simple, domed den. Two storage spaces, one for a pantry, one for any personal goods. A small private space, where visitors were seldom invited. The right mix of welcoming and homey.

In lieu of all the gaudy colors that were often used up top which meant little down below, every surface was carved into or in some cases, roughly sanded, to lend it shape and pattern. While they were fairly pleasant to look upon, much of the carving had more to do with how sound bounced off the patterned rock. This, if she recalled, was not something the humans were capable of appreciating. A pity.

“It’s nice.” Clearly not wishing to overplay her rampant desire to move in, she understated the room’s appeal. “Is this the room you’d sleep in then?”

Oh! How could she have forgotten to show the best part? “Not quite, deary.” Ava led them to the smaller, private space, and then bent down to where a thin slit had been cut into the wall. “The beds here really are superb. You just slip in right here. Edgar, would you be a dear and demonstrate?”

Edgar dearest gave a quick bob of his head before effortlessly crawling into the bed space.

“We carve them at a perfect, 10 degree angle, and then the ones in active homes are usually lined with fluid sacs. They help dampen any noise coming in. What is it that you have up top again? ‘Pillows’ I believe it was? It’s like being encased in a pillow, deary. A delightful experience. We can try to find you one with the fluid sacs if you’d like to try it out.”

The human seemed a touch distraught at that, no doubt realizing how many nights of suboptimal sleep she’d gotten in her life, but declined. It was likely, Ava reflected, that she was worried she might fall asleep immediately, which would be awfully rude given that she was on a tour. An understandable concern.

“Is it mostly all housing down here?” They stepped back into the outside tunnel, Tess craning her neck to sneak a look through the various doorways.

“Mostly. For now,” she admitted. “We’ve uncovered very little of what was here before the renovations, you know, and in terms of creating something new, housing seemed the first priority.” They’d yet to clear any of the larger, open spaces — instead of hallways with rooms off to the sides, they were more like cylinders with rooms honeycombed into them — but they made do with what they had. “We do have a pottery studio, though, deary! And I believe I just got word that we’ve uncovered the first hints of one of our music halls! Dreadful condition it's in, for whatever reason, but no matter. Let’s see that pottery studio, shall we?”

Oh, how she did love a good tour.

Jason was in a good mood.

After all, why wouldn’t he be? His life was full of rocks, and he was surrounded by friends. Things didn’t get much better than this.

And Tess was back! It was always a happy occasion when Tess was back. She came with exciting stories from a far off city where Barb had apparently grown up. He got to listen to her life and learn more about Barb, which seemed like two good things in one in his opinion.

Of course, even if Tess hadn’t had stories, it still would have been nice. The best thing about a good friend, after all, was their company. Plain and simple.

Presently, he was basking in that company, with Kex to his right, Tess to his left, and Barb sitting across from him. All four of them circled a small fire pit. Though Jason was carefully listening to everything that was being said, he was also enjoying himself by throwing small pebbles into the fire and then fishing them out. Hot rocks, he reflected, were a good type of rock.

Of course, leaves were also good. That was the main reason there was a fire in the first place: Barb had decided to teach Tess how to make a good cup of tea. Barb naturally had a nifty magical tea kettle, but apparently Tess couldn’t always rely on having one around, so they were doing it the traditional way.

A pot of water. A fire. A bag of leaves.

He listened in, learning the exact proper temperature of water to use. How long the leaves should be steeped for. A dozen other things he wouldn’t have even thought to control for.

Is there such thing as rock tea?

There had to be, didn’t there? If you could grind up a leaf and boil it, there was no reason you couldn’t do the same to a rock. And Kex was adamant that different types of earth and mud tasted different. Jason himself hadn’t had much luck on that front, but he believed her.

Or if no one was making it, maybe that could be his next big project! Rock tea. Or even a rock soup! He wondered what it would feel like to throw a rock after it had been used for a soup. Maybe it would unlock a new class quest for him. Or maybe if he made some rock tea, and then threw that.

Much to think on.

He was pulled from his thoughts as Tess presented him with a stone mug (he approved) filled with her first attempt at brewing tea “the right way.” He took a sip.

“It’s very good!” Perhaps not as good as Barb’s, but he still enjoyed the taste. And besides, it was made for him by a friend. What more could he ask for?

He watched as Kex added some flavor to hers — she tended to like most of her drinks a bit more on the earthy side — and decided to follow suit, throwing one of the pebbles from the fire in his cup. On seeing this, Barb chimed in.

“A good trick to keep your tea warmer for longer, that is. I used to do the same when camping, long before I got my kettle.”

Neat! He learned new things about his friends every day.

Eventually the tea lesson came to an end, with Barb gifting Tess with a few blends of leaves. One, apparently, was the favorite blend of someone named “Verin.” Jason wondered if he’d ever meet such a person. If she was a friend of Tess’s and Barb’s, she’d certainly make a good friend.

With all things tea concluded, the four simply sat and soaked in each other’s company, breaking the silence with occasional chatter.

“Anything to report, Jason? How are you?” Tess checked in on him, as friends often did.

“I’m good!” he replied. After all, how could he not be?

“Whenever you’re ready, honored noble-lady.” The colossal forest shadow bowed at the waist, even at his lowest point still towering over her.

“I’m very seriously going to bash your brains in,” Nadja exclaimed. When the city had gotten its own form of currency, Nadja had somewhat unexpectedly started getting very, very wealthy. Not like she could use that wealth on much considering there was hardly anything to buy. Even just off the tips that people were giving her at the bar, though, she wouldn’t be surprised if she was the “richest” person in Emer’Thalis contribution-points-wise. After all, the only other major attraction was the bathhouse, and no one had monetized it yet.

While her rise into pseudo-wealth had baffled and somewhat bemused her, it seemed to have had a somewhat different effect on her instructor. He was endlessly amused by the new development, and had started to refer to her as “the Baroness of Emer’Thalis.” A ridiculous nonsense of a title that made her itch at even the thought of it.

“Should the Baroness ever be able to land a solid hit on me, I will endeavor to take her threats more seriously.” Rock tilted his head up from his bow, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

Ugh. Fine. I’ll let him have his little fun. It was, after all, good to see that he was even able to crack jokes like that. Whatever Elphaea had done the first time apparently hadn’t fully cured his disease, and she’d watched in horror as Rock had slowly regressed over the course of their many sessions.

Thankfully, it looked like he’d recently gone back to Elphaea, as he was looking better than usual today. On top of that, for whatever bizarre reason, he always seemed far, far healthier after drinking a glass of wine, of which she had plenty. Nadja had of course seen people get sick from alcohol withdrawal, and a glass of wine helped them too, but somehow she didn’t think that’s what was happening here.

“It’s not even real money, you know,” she grumbled. “Not like I’m going to use it to enter the dungeon.” She chuckled at the thought of her rushing into the dungeon, bartender’s implements in hand.

No sooner had the words left her lips than she found a spear jabbing towards her head. Despite being startled, months of sporadic training had served her well, and she dodged out of the way.

At least, she sort of dodged out of the way. The spear whizzed by the side of her head, only to be jerked to the side. Used more like a club than a spear, it gently tapped her on the side of the head. More startled than hurt, she bit off a yelp and fixed Rock with a nasty glare.

“Don’t look at me like that. Why not? Poor attitude to have. Not much sense in learning how to fight if you’ll never end up in a fight.” He ground the butt of his spear into the dirt and straightened up, staring her down as if challenging her to disagree.

And she did disagree! “What, you think I’m going to club a dungeon monster to death? I heard half of the freaks in there are immaterial! And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the bulk of my points are in Charisma, and none of my class skills would help.” She pointed her club at him accusingly. “Trying to get out of training me by sending me on a little suicide mission, hmm?”

Rock graced her with a laugh at that, though it was somewhat diminished by a short fit of wheezing that followed it. As if he’d just made a vow to swear of laughing, he settled for his usual grunt instead.

“So don’t just use a club. You mix things, right? Take up alchemy. Brew some potions. See if you can pay someone for a minor spell, or if there’s an Expert or Master who can teach you one. I don’t know. Ask around to see how in the hells you Charisma folks help out in a battle.” He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world to just make some purchases and become strong enough to challenge a dungeon.

“You also forget, Baroness,” he continued, “that you can probably hire an exceptional team to go with you. Maybe start slow. Have them clear one or two rooms with you to start. No one said you need to run in by yourself and club the boss to death on your first try. We do not send our children on their first hunt by themselves, nor do we ask them to immediately slay a spider matriarch.”

Huh. He was really being serious, wasn’t he? Even so, it was a laughable notion. Even more far-fetched than her actually being a Baroness. But it was good to have goals, wasn’t it? Maybe, just maybe she’d consider it. Just… not right now.

“All right. I guess I’ll consider it, loyal servant of mine. Or what is it that noble ladies have? Servants? Butlers? Knights?” She tilted her head up and brought a hand to her chest, doing her best to somehow look down upon the man that loomed so far above her. “I will take your counsel into consideration, honored knight. Now if you would, this noble lady thinks it time to whack you with a club.”

After rolling his eyes and coughing a few times, Rock obliged her, settling into a battle stance. Once they were both ready, they began anew.

She was getting better. Truly. He’d even forced her to grab a few levels in non-Club skills as well, though she maintained that it was the right weapon for her. She still found it infuriatingly hard to land any serious blow on the man — even as her skill levels went up and up, she really didn’t have the stats to go with them — but she found herself able to hold her own more and more.

Today though…

“You’re distracted,” Rock grunted out.

She winced at it showing. Blows she knew she could deflect had instead struck true. Even with whatever disease he had, Rock was spending next to no effort today in holding her back.

The truth was, even with the talk of entering the dungeon helping to clear her head, she found her mind wandering.

“Sorry. I just- I heard that Tess was back in the city. Takes up a lot of mental space.” She didn’t think anything would happen, but in a settlement this small, it always had her on edge. Not that Nadja was looking to have anything to do with the woman, but even seeing her in public would feel off. They hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms.

Rock pursed his lips into a thin line. From what she’d gleaned, his own thoughts on Tess were complicated, to say the least. If nothing else, she was confident she was by far the favored of the two human students Rock had trained, though judging by the way he sometimes frowned when Tess’s name came up, that probably wasn’t saying much.

“She comes and goes,” he said at last. “Best to clear your mind of it. She’ll likely be gone before you notice.”