Kazue tried not to giggle as her mom’s carelessness got her bit by one of the little paper dragons, theeo ignore Mordecai when he looked her way. She’d never do something like that, not her, nuh-uh.

  Despite hoy she was that her mother had turned out to be so cool, Kazue was gd to see Akahana finally slowed down by the challehe druid had been slinging arouh magic like it was nothing, which at least gave the dungeon a ton of mana, but it had made Kazue feel kind of vulnerable to see what amouo their defenses ripped into so easily.

  The group started expl the maze without too many difficulties, up until the bunbrarian attacked. Kazue loved all her rabbit creatures, but she had to admit that she hated even the normal death screams they sometimes gave, depending on how they died, but these were so much worse. Louder, and given this really awful resohat peed. Kazue didn’t even have to cope with the magic fear effect riding the sound, so her sympathies were entirely with Shizoku when the girl locked up.

  Then Matriarch Aia decided to not pull her grand daughter out. Kazue wao protest, but she k wasn’t her pce to decide, and the girl didn’t back dowher after she recovered, even if she locked up every time one of the silent hammer-wielders attacked. Also, Kazue made a mental o repy this se and memorize the curses her mother had used. Those had been iing, and she’d never heard her mother curse before.

  Finally, the wearied group made it to the boss battle. Mordecai had coordiactics so far but had not directly orchestrated any of the bats. Here he did if only to direct the timing ahe three bosses up to date with anything they couldn’t see. Then Shizoku started bag up towards the bookcases, Horace dove into the greenery in order to e out iunnels, where he practically flew towards the bookcase the young kitsune was headed towards.

  “Clever Horace,” Mordecai said, then added, “Kazue, hold this.”

  “Hold what? Oh!” He’d ‘handed’ her the trickle of mana he’d been feeding the staff to fill it with the very cept of being alive, then used her as a duit as he maintaihe cept. It was a bit difficult to mahis stream of information and mana going through her like that, but easier than holding both cepts in her head herself and feeding them to the staff.

  Then Mordecai vanished, appeario Horad Shizoku shortly after the bookcase closed back up. “Alright Horace, I’ve got her.” The utan released the little one and then hurried off to try and rejoitle. “Shizoku, you just died. Neapped by an ape.” She’d started to protest, but he interrupted her with a raised hand and a serious expression. “Even a normal ape could have broken your here. He’s got boss-enharength. You. Are. Dead. e on, I’ll escort you out.”

  Kazue would have followed them, but there was too much going on over in the Annex. Her mom’s first big spell got disrupted by Enki’s surprise appearahe mana wasted as it spilled out of trol. But instead to tinue against Akahana, Enki dropped bato the ground as soon as she had her new barrier up. Then Kazue nearly screamed when he popped up behind Orchid, aiming that blow at the back of her head. She khat Mordecai wouldn’t let them inflict deliberately fatal attacks, and she trusted his judgment intellectually, but her gut rea was that she was about to watch her princess die.

  After that moment, everything became too chaotic for her to keep track of readily. Moriko and Mordecai might have started training her in the basics, but she had absolutely no experiend everything was happening all at once. She’d be able to repy it ter to make sense of it, anything her core’s focus ‘saerma memory, but in the moment there was just too much for a newbie like her to take in.

  Then Mordecai tacted her. “The oute is clear, time to cut our losses, love.” Enki inned, and the stant flurry of magi Akahana and Orchid was keeping Horace from closing into grappling range, as the tread out so that to close upon one would open his back to the other.

  “Alright, on three.” She aowledged, “Owo, three!” And both bosses were unsummohe dungeon had been quered, at least to the friendly petition level.

  Well, that was it. At least he’d mahings to help them make a good showing of it. Mordecai was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to help do a better job, but also proud of how well his bosses did when so outmatched. So he hummed a little to himself as he escorted the grumpy Shizoku to the feast hall, where Kazue, Moriko, and Aia were headed to meet them. Givetitude, he retty certain he’d judged rightly and the thirteen-year-old would have not accepted her loss if he’d just jured a sign tellihat she was dead.

  Today had been such a busy day. Finding out he had new bosses, trying t Moriko and Kazue up to speed on what more to expect, the utter chaos that ensued when Kazue’s mother arrived, ing up with that challenge on the fly, then finding out that Akahana was a seven-tailed druid, and the plete havoc that had pyed on their upper levels, and finally pulling together a new boss battle and a special prize.

  Speaking of, when he and Kazue set themselves up to meet the victorious party, the two of them stood with the staff held between, aook over his part of the mana flow again. He was kind of excited, he’d made some magic items like this before, filled with cept and i but without a specifitment, but never involving the sort of ties Kazue and her mother had. It wasn’t going to be an artifact or anything, but it should be rather special.

  He greeted them, ihem to take their prizes, then called to Kazue’s mother. “Akahana, this one is yours.” The druid came over to cim her staff, and at that moment it became fully real, and the trickles of mana he and Kazue had been feeding it stopped. It was no loheirs. And the staff bloomed.

  This wasn’t a huge surprise in and of itself. He was after all handing a partially wood staff, that was filled with the potential for being ever-living wood, over to a druid to cim as her loot. What was surprising was that the gem flowers he head of the staff were what bloomed, followed by the perfectly straight shaft ing subtly to the not-quite-straight of most anic growth, and all the gem roses took on a very faint glow, pulsing a beat simir to a calm heart.

  “Ohh, she’s geous.” Akahana cooed over her prize, eyes wide with happiness. “You made this for me? Oh, it’s wonderful!” Akahana gave them both brief hugs befoing back to examine her aff. “She’s alive, I am going to have to give her a name! What she do? Oh, wait, those are thorned roses.” She grinned slyly as she looked are Mordecai. “Did someohumb feel pricked when a delicate little rose pyed in his dungeon?”

  Her gaze shifted to her daughter as her voice took on a teasing tone. “Handsome, crafty, reasonably artistid a sense of humor. Be still my beati, no wonder you swooned for him. Maybe I should make a py to see if I steal him away.”

  “Moooom.” Came Kazue’s pint. Mordecai oher hand deliberately ighat entire bypy, he reized the game and the only way for him to win was to not py. Oh, aside from being truly stupid there was nothing he could say that would get him irouble. But Akahana had just set up a game where either of them could pretend to take offehough Kazue seemed to have not caught oo that part of the game, she just thought she was being teased.

  So Mordecai focused on examining the staff, to see the results of his efforts. Specifically, he turned his dungeon sight upon it, examining its aura. The eaff was indeed alive, metal aones alike. Its aura slowly fluctuated as if it was trying to settle into a shape, and bled into Akahana’s aura as it bonded with her. Hmm.

  Before he could chase that down, the fox iion turned ba. “And wise enough to know when to stay quiet. Now I think I am actually jealous.” Kazue growled softly, causing her mom to break down ughing and hug Kazue tightly, snuggling the girl tight. “Oh sweetie, I am just teasing. Your dad is the only one for me, even if the idiot refuses to admit-” Her words id-sentence as her eyes grew wide, and based off of what Aia had said before Mordecai acted as if he were going to stop Kazue from an overwhelming impulse.

  He stepped frabbing Akahana’s arm even as she let go of Kazue, and used his avatar as a focus to el all the mana he could into a sm wave. He felt three pulses of magic trying to ma in rapid succession before the woman realized what was happening and turowards him, panid frustration growing into anger lightning fast.

  Matriarch Aia’s voice cut in sharply. “Akahana, stop. You go chase after him in the m, but you will rest first.” The words were an order that broke the woman’s panid when Mordecai saw her expression ge to reflect that she was thinking instead of reag, he let go of her arm with relief. His avatar’s nerves were tingling from havihe el for that much dungeon mana, and he was gd to not have to tah her further.

  Akahana’s thoughts finally caught up with her as and she looked abashed. “Err, sorry Matriarch. I guess I panicked a little. I ’t believe I didn’t think to go find her father first.” Theurned back towards Kazue, her eyes tearing. “I’m so sorry honey, I didn’t mean tet your daddy.”

  “It’s OK Mom, I get it.” Kazue replied, moving in to hug her main. “It’s kind of a shock, and that sort of thing makes the head get cloudy, right?” Mordecai raised an eyebrow even as Akahana froze stiff. Looks like his wife had been doing some self-refle and was beginning to notice a pattern.

  Akahana pulled back a little to look Kazue in the eyes. “Kazue? Oh damn, we have a lot to talk about.”

  Kazue smiled. “Yes, but in the m, there’s another versation I o have first. Just promise me to not run off until we’ve talked and we are both satisfied, OK?” She chuckled. “And we do have a priest of Ozuran to witness.”

  Akahana stuck her to at her daughter, then cradled her staff in the crook of her elbow and gathered Kazue’s hands in hers. “I promise to have a long chat with you before I rush off into doing anything. I love you, and just want you to be happy.” A moment's pause as she seemed to notiething, then her grip shifted slightly to rest her fingers on Kazue’s wrists. “Um, Kazue?” She began, but Mordecai cut in.

  “I think that wants to be part of tomorrow’s versation.” Of course, a druid w over her daughter would noti elevated heart rate, but it art of what he o talk about with Kazue first.

  She hesitated, then nodded uainly. “Alright, I guess you two o talk about stuff as well.” She shook her head to clear it. “OK, lots of talking to do ter, and after that, I chase down my girl’s errant father. In the meantime, where were we?”

  Almost everyone else had moved away to not get involved in sudden family drama, taking the excuse of examining their new prizes. Moriko oher hand was standing with her arms crossed, and her expression clearly said she was itg to find out exactly what was going on. “Soon, I promise. I just want us all to be entirely focused on the versation,” he sent to her.

  Moriko tilted her head in aowledgment, and Mordecai focused on the people they’d actally been ign. “Sorry about that. So, it’s a couple of hours until diime still, and I figured everyone would want to freshen up. Our friends here,” he gestured towards the ganthros waiting to one side of the hall, “ show you to the rooms we’ve prepared, plete with running water and some light refreshments. If you have any specific aodation requests, just let yuide know and it be arranged, and feel free to e back here to socialize any time you please. However, Matriarch Aia, if I could have a moment of your time? I’d like a sed opinion. I assume you have an aura sight spell of some sort avaible?”

  Aia walked over with a curious expression. “The staff, I assume?” Mordeodded, and a slightly fused Akahana held it out for easier examination. After about a minute of studying it, Aia sighed. “You tio surprise me. Yes, you gave it a soul seed, and it is going to grow in power to match Akahana’s. And given that it is actually alive, it might actually gain true awareness someday.”

  Mordecai didn’t know what to feel about that firmation. It still wasn’t an artifact, but a relic of this sort should still be beyond them, and he doubted they were going to create its like again any time soon. Unfortunately, he didn’t even have enough information to tell him how a dungeon was supposed to be able to create them, he just khey were possible.

  “Well, that is a surprise.” He said to break the silence. Everyone else had headed off to their rooms while Aia was examining the staff, so it was just the five of them plus Casey at the moment. “I don’t knoe did that, but I am happy for Akahana to have received it.” Fortunately, the power of this sort of item was mostly tied to the power of the person it bonded with. Even when ied, its power went mostly dormant until its bearer was strong enough to awaken them again. “I think you should get to know your new friend Akahana. I trust that she will serve you well. In the meantime, I think the three of us o finish a versatioarted this m.” And with more to talk about as well.

  Everyone murmured farewells aheir separate ways, and Mordecai was happy to finally have some aloime to talk about the things that had been on everyone’s minds most of the day.

  Zagaroth