Even with Fuyuko's slip of the tongue, Mordecai sidered the day to have goher well. They had established themselves as strong in more than one way, retive to their size and youth as a Court, and they had proven themselves useful and resourceful. It was hard to be unhappy with such circumstances.

  Thehing ged.

  The hird' prihat Fuyuko had noticed was easy for him the options were limited, and not many beings carried the aura of both a kitsune and a dryad. He really should have anticipated that Norumi would also be sidered a princess of the civen how fey she had already bee.

  Beside her resenew to Mordecai. A mase nature spirit strong in the elements of wood ah, and keeping close to her side. Mordecai had a guess as to the identity of this man, and if he was correct looked forward to meeting him.

  However, the third presence, a ail kitsune whose power outshone everyone else here.

  That one gave him a headache.

  Satsuki; so named after the season of giher and dangerous storms. Her name was supposed to represent resilience against uable dangers, but she was more akin to being such a storm.

  She was also Norumi's mother.

  "I must apologize," he said to their current interviewee as he, Moriko, and Kazue had all fallen silent, "we will o pause for the moment. There are some new visitors and I am afraid we will o attend to them promptly. It is unfortuitous timing." They had been dug their interviews in the gdes he feasting tables to make the process less intimidating, but now they o abandon their food and drink.

  To everyone ected to the dungeon, Mordecai sent out, "Our new visitors sist of my daughter Norumi, her mother Satsuki, and a third unknown to me but likely to be just as important. Please arrange for the best possible reception for them." He then narrowed his focus to just Moriko, Kazue, Carmil, Fuyuko, and Bellona. "I have no idea what sort of 'token' Satsuki is bringing, but she likes to py strange games. We will want higher value return gifts than honey I am afraid, and probably three such gifts. Any ideas?"

  While they ferred, the three of them turned back toward their thrones. Mordecai also directed several of their best musis, dancers, and other performers to set up along the sides of the path the new guests were on. He hoped to buy them some time via eaining distras.

  Carmil responded first by asking, "Your daughter said her mot along well with Queen Sylphine, yes? If she bears no title then she must be special for Queen Sylphio sider her an equal. Mother be a touch judgmental about such things. So something that befits royalty?"

  Not a bad start, but Mordecai still wasn't certain what that should be.

  "Oh!" Kazue said, "I have an idea. I mean, it might be over the top, but if you want the best thing ossibly give, that would be the opal from the mushroom elixir."

  Bellona sounded amused as she said, "I am surprised you are willing to give away something so valuable to one of your husband's former lovers."

  Moriko replied, "I'd rather drown her in generosity than appear jealous or threatened. We do not he opal at this poiher. We may have kept it as an emergency source of cash, but we've established ourselves now. I say we should go for it."

  "Even my mother would be impressed with that, I think," Carmil agreed.

  With that decided, it was time to focus on Norumi.

  Fuyuko's starting suggestion was simple and reflected empathy for Norumi's situation. "She'll want a gift that's special because it's from her father."

  That was hard tue with, and Mordecai felt certain Fuyuko was right. "I'll think about that, thank you. For our third guest, I suspect we will want something that would be appreciated by a guardian spirit. If they were delving it would be easy to make something quickly, but we are limited by what we manually arrange or craft in time."

  He left the rest of them to figure that out while he focused on what would be appropriate for his daughter. Mordecai's mi ing back to the idea of a diadem for a princess but at first, it did not seem feasible to craft a suitable one for her in such a short time.

  Once his ptions brought Mordecai to his solution, it seemed obvious. Their warrens held many trees that they had been evolving and hybridizing and it wasn't hard to sele appropriate spe from these new species. This was a true silverwood tree, capable of drawing trace amounts of the metal from the soil into its wood and leaves. The trees it had been bred from all had innate, if faint, magical properties and they had been w on enhang those traits as well.

  This resulted in a tree that carried an irace of holiness and bore fruit that promoted both physical and spiritual health, and sometimes a random minor blessing. He sent a rabkin druid to carefully transfer a small sapling into a temporary pot and bring it to him, while another collected several fruits with fertile seeds.

  His work was fairly straightforward, ohe sapling was in front of him. The tree had enough vitality to it that it was easy for him to shape it into a living circlet that would not wither, though this required trading iential for it to grow and mature into a proper tree. On top of that, he i with his love for his daughter and sealed it with the blessings of a high priest and a faerie king.

  It was far from the most powerful item he'd ever created, but that wasn't the point. It was suitable and sincere, filled with the essence of who he was. Mordecai wasn't eveain ecific protes or boons it might provide, the sort of reshaping and blessing he'd done would only resolve itself sometime after it had been gifted, to fit its bearer.

  The fruits and seeds, however, were a dired hopefully practical gift. The trees that grew from them should help invigorate Norumi's forest and provide extra prote against any form of blight.

  While he had been w on shaping the circlet, everyone else had been deg ohird reciprocal gift.

  A guardian should have armor, and the reports back from the first eainers said that the man walking with Norumi and Satsuki had maed a body in the form of a rough-hewn, humanoid-shaped tree interwoven with an intricate pattern of vine, moss, ao create details such as clothing and hair. The maed body was also reinforced with stroh magics.

  They also firmed his identity after overhearing Norumi call him Haolong.

  Most items, even ented ones, did not readily bond to maed forms and were ofte behind when the spirit stopped maing a body. Mordecai was certain that Norumi would have no issue bonding with his gift, but making armor for this third visitor would require a different teique.

  Having patible materials was the first step, and they already had what they needed; mycelium and spider silk. They even had plenty of material prepared in the proper yers, as this was one of the things used for trades or rewards without directly using the dungeon's ability to create items.

  The sed step was not difficult, as they had rough estimates of his size from the reports and they had druids who could shape the material into the needed forms. Refining the size could wait for the moment.

  Ensuring that the armor could bond with the spirit and readily be incorporated into the non-physical form without effort was trickier. The identity of the recipient helped with this, even if the e was thihan they would have wished, as two faerie queens gave their blessing to the champion who was their son-in-w via their step-daughter, while two faerie princesses gave their blessings to their brother-in-w.

  Were the es between them and Haolong stronger and reinforced with emotional bonds, the blessings would have been stronger. As it was, their primary purpose was te a link; it was their druidihabitants who used that link to create the entment that would let the armor bind to the spirit rather than the body.

  If they'd had more time, they could have created the entment from scratch. As it was, they repurposed an entment on a shield that had been captured during the invasion. It was meant to allow the shield to block attacks from non-physical entities, but there was enough overp between the purposes that it was just faster and easier to scrap the shield than to make a new entment.

  After a brief discussion, Mordecai, Kazue, and Moriko rearrahe seating. Fuyuko and Carmil both were seated o Moriko while two more seats were arranged o Mordecai and a third further down and just off to the side of the dais.

  Whatever her ties to them, Satsuki was not a member of their court. She would get a pce of honor, but the dais was for the court royalty alone and they intenize Haolong as such shortly.

  There were a few preoments of peace before the woman's arrival. Still, it was hard to ignore her presen their domain. Whereas Gil was simply bombastid often careless with his poeople like Aia teo keep very careful restraint on their power, Satsuki wielded her power liberally. Never in excess, but alresent in subtle ways.

  For example, most of their guests first noticed her by hearing her as she swept along the gleaming white path while she talked animatedly with Norumi and Haolong. Not that she was loud, no, not her. Even without magic, she knew how to make herself be heard without being loud. But with just a touagic, that talent lified to the exact level she wa any moment.

  The bck-haired kitsune was as stunning as ever, with her ears and five of her tails tipped in brilliant red while her hair and four of her tails were tipped in white that practically glowed. Mordecai retty certain she had styled with the white and red reversed the st time he'd seen her, but that had been a long, long time ago.

  Her flowing bck silk kimono was trimmed in red and decorated with white clouds and lightning bolts, refleg the meaning of her hugged her figure just enough to give a hint of the shape beh and it was just loose enough to tease at the idea of a bit of colrbone being fshed, but that tease was simply a taunt. She'd never let any bit of skin show by act, mostly to show off her trol of her situation.

  Not that she needed clothing to make an impressive and andirance, but perhaps those memories should not be dwelled upon, especially i pany and circumstances.

  Norumi and Haolong seemed to be dragged along in her wake as Satsuki strode toward the dais with as much fidence as if her own throne waited upon it.

  She stopped a little shy of the pavilion, just far enough away so that she would not have to look up at Bellona, who was regarding her with calm expectation.

  Satsuki quirked a brow at this obstacle. Bellona's expression did not ge and she did not move from her position directly in front of the dais.

  There was no physical barrier preventing Satsuki fr to move around Bellona, but there were reasons to not do so. For oo do so would be a breach of protocol serious enough to hypothetically lead to violence. For another, it would be a cession that she could not get Bellona to step aside, and Satsuki rideful creature.

  After just a few moments of silent eye tact, Satsuki smirked and tilted her head slightly in aowledgment. "I do appreciate those who know how to do their duty properly, no matter what might face them. Hmm, knight of this court yet also a champion of Amirume, if I am not mistaken. Oh, and marked by Kuic! Iing. Well, Norumi, if you would make our introdus?"

  The kitsune dryad stepped forward and gave Bellona a sympathetic smile as she dipped her head in aowledgment. "Greetings," Norumi said, "I am Norumi, daughter of King Mordecai, and as it turns out, a princess of the Azeria Court. This is my mother, Satsuki, and my husband, Haolong. Please announce us to the King and Queens of the Azeria court."

  Bellona smiled and stepped aside with a bow as she said, "Wele to the Azeria Court, Yhness. I believe your father and step-mothers look forward to seeing you, your husband, and yuest."

  The pointed pt of Satsuki as a guest only made the woman look more amused. For all of her pride and vanity, Mordecai had never found fault in her ability to carefully stay on just the right side of protocol when she wao. Even having Norumi introduce them was the right choice; Satsuki introdug herself as the mother of Mordecai's daughter would have had a differe than Norumi introdug Satsuki as her mother.

  With that formality taken care of, the three of them proceeded to the dais.

  Zagaroth