Ricardo looked rather disbobuted at disc that his attempt to not tie Akahana down to his traveling self had never worked, the only person he’d been fooling had been himself. As Moriko helped him right their table, she did have a piece of advice to give. “Assuming you have already found a perfect ring somewhere and have kept it somepce safe, I’d go fetch it before you hit the road. If not, I reend finding one soon. Akahana is prepping her garden to hand over to someone, dropping off some samples with both the dungeon and my parents in Riverbridge, and then she pns to ride your caravan for the rest of your life. You might as well be prepared.”

  He shook his head with a smile as he bent down to collect spilled tableware. “She’s already decided this is going to happen, without asking? Guess she’s as stubborn as me. Don’t know how irl turned out to be such a softie.”

  Moriko’s mind drifted back to their library date and tried not to blush. “Oh, I’d feel safe to say that she’s got a will of her own. She just he right push.”

  Based on Ricardo’s expression, she had not beeirely successful. “I don’t think I want to know.” He said. “But, um, I take it the marriage is mutual, not co-wives?” He looked amusingly unfortable asking even that.

  “Yes, partly at Mordecai’s insistence, which is part of why I accepted including Kazue.” Ricardo grunted an aowledgment, then turo pay for rept food and drink and ara round for everyone, plus gave the staff who had to up the food mess ara tip of a gold piece each. “Oh, my father-in-w is rich! Maybe I should call you Daddy?” Moriko ughed as she sat down to enjoy her new dinner, amused at Ricardo’s wince.

  And that was whewo oren she’d noticed earlier were noroag their table. The younger of the pair spoke first. “Ah, based oher names I heard while you two were having your, um, ‘discussion’, I take it you would be Moriko?”

  Moriko frowned slightly at the two women, she remembered them looking at each other earlier when she mentioned Kazue’s name. “Yes?” Ricardo pressed a palm against his temple, probably realizing he’d fotten to ask her name, which was okay as in the mess she’d hought to give it.

  The younger woman nodded. “My name is Bellona. This is my cousin Kansif. I have, mmm, well, future business with you and yours, and thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself since we’ve stumbled into each other. Kansif is privy to at least as much as I know, so feel free to talk in front of her. Um, That sounds a bit too serious. Well, it es down to me being assigo bee a liaison to your spouses. Though it’s going to be a while before I go there, I just picked up a raining duty.” Bellona finished with a slight grimad lifted her left hand to show the back, where a mark showing a shield surrounded by symbols for the four elements was clear.

  Moriko blinked in surprise. “Oh, well, that is, um, yeah, not something I was expeg. Okay, Ricardo, I think they should join us, this involves part of what I haven’t had a ce to discuss with you. Do you have any issues with that?”

  The man frowned slightly, probably fused as to why his daughter would need a liaison, but he nodded slowly. “Alright, I guess.”

  The little table was getting crowded, so they took a few mio find a rge table a everyoled. “I guess I should begin so that Ricardo is up to date with what happened,” Moriko said once everyone was ready. “To start with, I o be clear that there was no mistake, Kazue did die. Due to the circumstances, Lady Mericume took pity on her and reinated her. There was a,” she paused and double-checked with Mordecai and Kazue, as they had more exact memories of that versation, then tweaked it a little to spread out the information, “potential for a rare sort of creature to e ience soon, she made it happen sooner by having it form around Kazue’s soul.” Ricardo was looking puzzled, and she didn’t bme him, it was a lot to take it. “Kazue was reborn as a living dungeon, situated about halfway between Azeria and Riverbridge.”

  Ricardo just looked at her for a long moment before he processed that enough to start asking questions. “Wait, my daughter is now a crystal sitting in a cave? And how does that work with being married?”

  “That sort of o start with Mordecai ahen we e to Kazue.” For most others, she’d have started there to begin with, but it made seo begin with Kazue for her father. Moriko skimmed over many of the details, especially Mordecai’s past and how directly involved some of the gods had gotten, but brought him up to date generally.

  By the time she was done, Ricardo was a lot more rexed. “Really? She went all out like that in a dungeon with only five floors?” Ricardo chuckled. “I guess that shows what experience do. Well, that and you had double capacity, numbers do t for a lot.” He sighed softly. “I am happy my girl is safe. Well, I uand what’s going on now, so maybe our two new friends tell us more about what’s going on with them?”

  Moriko and Ricardo both turo look at Bellona, who nodded. “Yes. And thank you for your story, I haven’t been given a full report yet as I o do my Guardian training, so they wanted me to trate on that first. But as for how I got involved, I had an enter with an old kitsune who seems like he might have been a sage. He gave some rather mysterious advice about visiting a new dungeon, if I wanted any ce at all of catg a minor criminal, and I decided that bination of the enter and the news of the new dungeon warranted me making a detailed report. My superiors sort of rahrough the wringer iioning me, and just the other day was the st set of questioning. Seems they had already been sidering that they might want to make me the liaison sihey wanted one anyway, and that was when my Mark maed, which sealed the deal.” She made a face. “I get to go and train with the Jinn tribe.”

  Kansif ughed at the younger woman’s clear disfiture and spped her on the back. “e on cousin, you’re plenty tough, I am sure you’ll do fine. And now our family has two people raised to minor nobility! It will do great for everyone’s reputation!” That didn’t seem to make Bellona feel aer, and Moriko couldn’t bme her. her of the two women had said anything about calling them ‘Lady’, so Moriko wasn’t going to start unless someone said something, but teically all of the Guardians were automatically raised to the status of a minor Lord. The title meant a little less than it did in many other nations, but it was still an official title.

  Of course, being Marked was more on in noble houses, especially ohat already had Marks, but it made sehough no one khe exact criteria for who was marked, the general requirements were known: Loyalty aher Ability or petence, but then it takes Serendipity to be actually selected. Noble houses with strong traditions focused on serving the kingdom and training deeply in whatever the person was good at were setting themselves up for success, and were more likely to have been active in putting themselves into positions where they might be useful, as no one is ever given a Mark unless doing so will help the kingdom, no matter how much they might otherwise deserve it.

  But being Marked as a Guardian was also dangerous work. While it wasn’t pletely unheard of for someoh no bat ability to get marked, it was retively rare. The couple of stories she’d heard along those lines had generally been about someone who had stumbled upon information that they were desperate to report but didn’t have the ability to escape. Using the powers a mark bestow without proper training was dangerous at best, and would always be less effective thahat ability had been properly awakened, but being able to be less noticeable or just barely able to teleport past a closed gate could be life savers.

  Moriko’s musings were interrupted whewo women finished verbally sparring and Bellona turo Moriko again. “I was given a general idea of how to set a good impression, but this seemed like a prime opportunity to ask directly if there is anything that the dungeon would like me to try a during my trip? I’ll be heading into the mountains.”

  She sent the query on to Mordecai and Kazue, then the response. “Well, it seems that any materials with a natural elemental affinity would be good, and given who you are training with I see why they think it’s likely you might enter some. In general, the rarer a thing is, the more it is valued, but quantity is far less important than quality fiven sample. Hmm, Mordecai has a specific request for any pnt samples that might match a jungle or s? Oh, yeah, I haven’t gotten them a map yet, so he doesn’t know the terrain in the area very well. There are some wetnds along the coast, but I don’t think you are headed that way.”

  Bellona nodded. “I nning oing a horse or catg a ride on a mert caravan or such, and diverting to the coast would take me a fair bit out of the way. It doesn’t sound like those sorts of reeds are what he wants anyway. But I’ll see what I do about the rest.”

  The four of them talked for a little while more before the two women bade them goodnight, and when they were gone Moriko focused on Ricardo. She’d had an idea f in her head for a bit, but it hadn’t involved the others. “So, as Bellona pointed out, dungeons are very grateful fifts, but they also make good trade partners.” She grinned as she felt Mordecai and Kazue shift their full attention her way again. “And you are a well-traveled mert, in the capital city of a reasonably wealthy nation. I am sure you find a way to cut a good deal for your daughter and son-in-w, right?” Oh, this was a way she could help them out more too. She could arrange deals with other merts for them remotely and actually firm the deals directly.

  “Ozuran! Check this out!” He’d felt his sister’s approaly a moment before, and braced himself as he was impacted by his sister throwing herself at him in a greeting glomp. “I started paying more attention to Moriko after she met with her Master yesterday, since she’s thinking about how she expand her devotion, and so I caught this little meeting.” Her words dreiece of his focus to the tavern where Moriko ran into Ricardo and Bellona.

  “That is iing.” He checked the web of potentials he’d been guided by when he’d nudged Bellona’s path, and the future knot looked more like a pattern. This was a good thing, but he still couldn’t tell what it actually represehe future was never set until it was the present, his father had seen to that when he’d set the rules for this universe, and Ozuran agreed with Zagaroth’s decision. From what he’d seen of other realms, trying to enforce Fate was a good way for a backsh to develop. Freewill and Fate were not cepts that coexisted well in the same reality, and flict always arose.

  “Hmm, it doesn’t look like this ushed by anything specific, just the general bailt that Father implemehough Kuic pg that mark on Belloainly ehis flueo happen. She probably wouldn’t have been there otherwise, even if she had still beeed to bee their liaison.”

  Sakiya sighed slightly. “I wish I had gotten some of Father’s ability to see potentials like you did. I have to do more blind guessing and hoping for the best.” Ozuran very rarely tried to give his family advice based oterns he saw, he’d learned early on that it was messy and i. If he felt a was needed, he generally had to set it in motion himself.

  “We each got our own gifts and influences. You are a much stronger warrior than myself, there’s a reason your monastery is favored above even those of our mothers in nations where we all have oablished.” Overall, Mericume and Amirume had stronger churches, but he and his sister had their own specialties.

  “Yes yes, but I hardly ever get to actually do anything beyond spar. Anyway, I thought you’d want to see the results of your little touch.” Sakiya tapped her thoughtfully. “I am excited to see Moriko looking to walk this path too, and she moved a little towards it here, but a lot of what she did also overpped with her own self-i. Well, let’s see what es her way!”

  Ozuran smiled as his sister kissed his cheek and hopped back out of his realm. Despite the fact that they were born on the same day, he ofte like the older sibling. Well, time to turn his attention back to that knot of potentials and see what else had ged. Hmm. There was a thin thread over here that looked iing. Oh, that was delicate, he couldn’t pull on it directly. He’d need a child, but getting a child involved wouldn’t be right, and the only children who could be in the right pce were in someone else’s influenyway, so that would be a problem too. This was going to be tricky, but a few ideas were ing to mind. It was going to take a while, and even if the choice he was hoping for was made, this one's path was going to be a lot more dangerous.

  Zagaroth