Zagaroth

  Bellona watched with amusement as the chaotic giggle of pixies desded upon the unprepared Deidre, but she was also keeping a close eye on her reas. A brief moment of panic caused Deidre's pale blue eyes to widen and she flinched as the first of the endlessly chattering fae touched her, but she held her ground without shing out. That panic faded and the tension in her body slowly rexed as she adjusted to what was happening.

  Not that Bellona was left alone by the swarm, but as someohey knew she was far less iing.

  Eventually, Deidre turoward Bellona and asked, "What is going on with these creatures?"

  "Well," Bellona replied, "sider what might happen if a living dungeoed a challenge involving some pixie-like creations, and then that self-same dungeon developed the ability to grant all of its inhabitants true sapience. Especially if that dungeon was known for a vivid imagination and a geure. Now add to this mix of uedly sapient pixies the extended presence of a shard of Li Zarb. A shard who spent time telling these excitable, impressionable creatures all sorts of stories and thus taught them to tell stories in turn and who was excited to meet them and was looking forward to seeing them everywhere." She shrugged before tinuing. "These rooms have the greatest density of them given the role they have to py, but there are more of them than are necessary as well. Most of them like each other, so they tend to cluster in areas but you never know where you will find one."

  Deidre carefully shook her head slowly, and a handful of pixie screamed with delighted 'terror' as they swung on handfuls of her long hair. "You had a divine shard here?"

  "Yes, and I had unwittingly run into this same shard well before my arrival here. It seems that he and Mordecai were friends during Mordecai's previous life as well. The events leading to Mordecai's return may well have been influenced by Li, though that would be difficult to prove."

  The giggle was slowly thinning as the pixies were distracted by other thoughts, though several were fasated by Deidre's hair. The woman's face was impassive once more, but her voice carried notes of frustration and anger. "How lucky for him. Others could use a bit of that luck."

  "Yes," Bellona agreed, "and always there are many who could. But even the gods only do so much, lest by interfering they end up binding our free will. Most of the ills of this world are born from choices made by mortals, and ill luck makes up most of the rest. The gods give us tools and aid with whiake the world better, and they give better tools and aid to those who find a path of devotion. It is not perfectly fair, but it is more fair than a world in which they do not interve all. One should not give up hope, there are alaths to a better future, however narrow those paths might be. A bit of lud ce revived Mordecai and others have reacted to this food and ill. Now Mordecai and his allies must rea turn. He may very well be able to help others who in the process, even if they have been suffering a long time."

  Their versation had bored the pixies enough to drive most of them away, though at least one had mao partially co itself in Deidre's hair and was fast asleep. "Those words might be pleasant, but it does not make the suffering go away," she replied, ign the long trains of flowers that had been woven into her hair.

  "No, at least, not the suffering of the past. And there will be lingering pain, some wounds do not heal fast or well. But there is a better future to be achieved. And we would work to achieve it," Bellona said.

  "Hmm." Deidre did not look satisfied with that answer. "There are many who suffer. Would you strike the s off the one person you know, but leave the s on others simply because they are not known to you?"

  Bellona sighed. "That is difficult. How do you for entire empire to ge? Assuming you have the brute force to quer it, how many would suffer in the process? But maybe this will be the first step in a longer process. The world is plicated, and the future impossible to predict. All we do is our best. Now," she gestured out at the room, "I think we've carried this versation as far as we for the moment. Would you like to tihe puzzle?"

  After a long moment of sideration, Deidre nodded. "Very well." Her movements were a little stiff but Bellona wasn't surprised that the woman might be upset. The idea that all of one's suffering might boil down to a bination of bad lud the ill choices of others was a tough pill to swallow. Bellona wasn't great at the soft touch stuff, but she could provide this perspective at least.

  It took only a little while for Deidre to realize the trick of this puzzle a about w with the pixies to have them bee the proper flowers on the correct tree or bush. W with the flighty creatures seemed difficult for her, and at the least Bellona would guess that she rarely ied with children or the like. In truth, her social iions were probably very limited in many ways, so maybe this would be good practice.

  The zone proved much easier for the avatar. Even with her bindings in pce, identifying the various patterns and matg timing or notes proved rather simple for her. Watg the almost eerie grace with which she moved made Bellona gd she hadn't had to face Deidre in any sort of fair and open battle if this was what she was like while restricted. The crystal-based puzzles were all pleted faster than she'd been able to plete the st matg puzzle with the pixies.

  The theater zone was a differe and Bellona had realized that it might be an issue before they even began. So she gave Deidre a bit of advice. "This one might be difficult for you. Sometimes, putting on a mask to py a role is in truth removing other masks. This challenge is about overing yourself and w with what is avaible, but it will be hard to pass if you 't find the fun in it. Kazue says that you call a break at any time if anything bees too much, and the bunkin have been asked to be a little more toned down than usual. It might help to remember that Fuyuko mao clear this se on the very day that she first arrived here, and she enjoyed herself."

  The warni Deidre visible nervous, but that was as much advice as Bellona could give without weakening the challenge. In truth, even this would have been too much warning for most, but there was a certain brittleo Deidre's emotions that suggested the emotional toll of improvisation ag in front of an audience of bunkin was going to be tough on her.

  The stage director and the other actors had to operate in airely different way than normal. The standard freic pad shouting would not do well in this case, and Bellona couldn't even guess which way Deidre might break if pressed wrong. This set of pys were all variations of a stories, and many of them involved bad things happening to someone and that person overing them to achieve a happy life in some way. She was he target of the events nor the causer of them, she was some variation of support or bystander for the hero of the story, but she still had to act with the sort of siy that would leave her feeling exposed.

  She mao make her way through the small dramas with only short breaks between, but pleting the set left Deidre trembling with the emotional backsh. If Bellona had been on her owhis would have been a lot harder to work with, but Mordecai passed on a suggestion that had helped Fuyuko.

  "So, why don't we just have your prizes sent to your room, and you look them over ter? I lead you to one of the hidden shops in the library and we take a break there, and after that you decide how you want to proceed."

  Deidre simply nodded a herself be led to the zone's exit. Her expression ged a little when they ehe safe area. "So soon? And they've done so much. A safe pce doesn't have to be anything more than a bare room, and you don't have to have any."

  Bellona nodded. "Yes, but the level is rge enough that it be an all-day venture by itself, and generally speaking they don't eople camping in the middle of the library, so this works for everyone. Also, Kazue really enjoys being a good host, so most of the amenities beyond room to sleep and sanitary facilities are her idea. And their entire goal is to try and not get anyone killed oher path, while still providing suffit challenge."

  As they talked the two of them crossed to the library's entrance. Deidre's steps slowed a little ohey were inside, and she took the time to look around and take in the size of the pce. "You have so many books ihan a year?"

  "No," Bellona said with a small ugh, "Not really. It's an impressive colle, but right now many of these are duplicates and bnks. There are several that are their own position as well. Most of them are new works piling information from several reted older works, a task that is easier for them than for most other people." She paused as a mischievous thought came to mind and looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. "If you find any steamy fis uhe name 'Raimi Darlington', I think those are actually Kazue's under a pen name."

  A mental gasp sounded in Bellona's head, and one of Kazue's illusions flickered to life. "How did you figure that out? Please, please don't tell anyone! Some people have picked them out as part of their prizes, so the books are out there and I 't have them know they are mine! What if my mom or dad find out? Oh gods, what if she's already read a copy? Please, promise me?" The illusionary redhead was adorable as she pleaded with the two of them.

  Bellona chuckled, "I promise to be careful in what few I tell, but I reserve my discretion iter."

  Deidre was a bit slower to reply and more precise in her promise. "Within my limitations, I will not voluhe information unless I think it beneficial for you if I do."

  Kazue groaned and hid her face with her hands. "That's the best I'm going to get, isn't it? Alright, I guess I 't ask for more. Just, please, I really don't want this to get out. Um, ah, tinue your delve I guess."

  Once Kazue's avatar winked back out, a very amused Bellona finished leading Deidre to the frozes shop. "I think I know what you need right now. I normally prefer the tea shop, but this seems like the right sort of occasion, and aic fruit and seed were brought in a few weeks ago that is perfect." And with that, she ordered tws of 'chocote indulgence', which yered everything from baked chocote to chocote ice cream to chocote fudge poured over the top.

  The blonde avatar looked dubious at the dark brown food in front of her and poked at it with a spoon a couple of times before tentatively taking her first bite. There was a moment of mild fusion before she took a sed bite, and she tio look puzzled as she devoured every st morsel of it. "I don't uand, why do I like this so much? It is somewhat bitter, even with the sugar and cream."

  "Most people do, especially women, and even more s times of stress," Bellona said as she tinued sav her serving. "But normally it is aic dish served in smaller quantities to the rich. Some entrepreneur secured a sample for the purposes of imp it to the dungeon, so now it's a local treat as well. Kazue and Mordecai decided they were only going to give finished products as prizes or to be purchased individually, they weren't going to mass produce it for trade. But it will still probably cause the price to dip."

  "That seems wise," Deidre replied as she scraped the shallow gss bowl. "Crashing a market create ire."

  "Now, you have a decision to make. Do you want to tinue your delve today, or do you want to e baorrow? Uher circumstances, you would probably o stay in the safe area like normal delvers, but given the way things are right now that won't work well."

  "No, I suppose not," she said with a sigh and put her spoon down. "Physically I should be able to do it, but I find I want to be well-rested before seeing what the challenge is for this zone. I think I uand now why you all wao explore like this. It is a very different sort of duhan I would have imagined previously. I 't imagine my situation makes my dungeon normal either, but this is a very different sort of not normal. I don't know if I am even ready to uand what is going on, but I think I want to at least see it."

  Zagaroth