“Hey,” Krvavy casually calls out in greeting, not bothering to look away from her work. She knows just which one of her girls is approaching. The slight squeak of the handcart gave it away. “You back for more bricks?”

  “Yes.” Inanna calmly answers, her voice as even and steady as ever.

  “Right.” Krvavy rolls her shoulders and turns around, staying more or less seated on the cool stone floor. “Here, let me help you.”

  The Dwarf simply raises a single thick eyebrow. “Weren’t you going to use those?” She asks, eyeing the stack of bricks that are already being loaded onto her cart.

  Krvavy returns the grey-skinned woman’s gaze with an amused look on her face. “Yeah, but it’s not like I can’t get more. And once we’re done this soon-to-be bathroom I’ll be digging out an entire floor beneath us, so... You can have as many bricks as you’d like. Probably even more than you’d need.”

  “Mmm. Quite the ambitious designs that you have for this pce.”

  “Really? You are one to talk.” The barbarian wryly returns. “We can see your workshop from up here, and it’s starting to look like we could fit our entire home in there.”

  “I am pnning for the future, yes.” Inanna nods her head, voluminous mass of coal-bck hair bobbing with that motion. “In time it will be a proper Dwarven workshop, with a forge and all of the amenities one would expect. But for now I am focusing on making a single section functional. Or at least as functional as I can with all of these limitations.”

  “Limitations, huh~?” Krvavy pyfully asks, pausing for just the briefest moment before grabbing onto another brick and loading it up onto the handcart. “Have I not given you enough~?”

  The Dwarf’s copper-orange eyes stare straight into the Drakling’s soul, emotionless and unblinking. “Do you have an anvil? Bellows? I may already have many of the smaller tools I need for my craft, but I do not have everything.”

  “You’re smart enough to figure something out.” A teasing yet still earnest gleam fills Krvavy’s smile as she easily gives that compliment. “Well,” she suddenly cps her hands together. “That’s all your cart can fit. Want me to help carry a few more over? Right now?”

  “Mmm... If you would like to.”

  “I would.” Krvavy nods and rises to her feet. “It’d be nice to see, up close, how much progress you’ve made just by stacking bricks. From the look of it, you’re really putting my work to shame~.”

  “Mm. I am a Dwarf.” A faint smile pys across the Dwarf’s dark-grey lips as she grabs onto the handles of her cart and begins to push it back down the path. “Though, in truth, it would be easier with rger bricks. We Dwarves usually build with sbs of stone bigger than our bodies, so I will need to rely on your magic to ensure its structural stability. Especially since I have not used any mortar.”

  “I can do that for you no problem.” The barbarian confidently states. Wisps of steamy mist gnces across her skin and scales as they pass on through the cluster of hot spring ponds, the wheels of the cart bumping over the thin trickling streams that cross this path. “It’s pretty easy to just merge bricks together. Though with the size of what you’re building... Well, it’ll take a while.”

  “That is alright. I am in no rush. It can wait until after you are done building our home.” Inanna gnces towards the Drakling as an ever so slightly pyful tone enters her otherwise neutral voice. “Unless you keep expanding on your pns, that is.”

  “Well, maybe I’d like to build a whole pace up here~.” Krvavy jokingly replies, before getting a little more serious. “But you’re really fine with waiting?”

  “Of course.” Inanna pinly answers. Despite her short and stocky stature, she has no problem pushing her heavily loaded handcart over the arched bits of pathway that bridge across the rivers cutting through this cave. “If we were outside then perhaps I would feel otherwise. But as it is now, I am fine with holding off of constructing a ceiling. That saves me the need to install proper ventition, for the time being.”

  “Alright.” Krvavy nods back, slowly following alongside her wonderful shortstack, bricks piled in her arms. “Though I do have to wonder... Is it a problem that we’re kind of building everything as a single giant block of stone? You know, merging bricks into one rge mass instead of using mortar?”

  “Mmm... If I were not a Runesmith, then perhaps.” The Dwarf hums out her response. “There are many factors which may or may not be an issue in this cave. Weathering is likely not much of a problem, but we have yet to see what the effects of winter will be down here... Over time, moisture freezing within stone can cause it to crack and fracture completely. Mortar functions as an intentional weak point for that, as well as for other forms of deterioration, and is much easier to repair or repce than the bricks would be. But you do not need to worry about that. My runes should prevent most issues, not to mention that your magic should be able to mend any damage before it becomes too severe.”

  “That’s good. Don’t really want our home colpsing around us...” The barbarian breathes out in relief.

  “So says the woman who intends to excavate beneath it.”

  “Hey~!” Krvavy pyfully acts insulted by the Dwarf’s near emotionless sass. “I’ll have you know that there is a rge demand for my bricks, and I have to get them from somewhere!”

  Inanna hardly reacts to the Drakling’s defence. Instead, she asks an earnest question. “Do you have any pns for the excess bricks? The ones that are not needed for our home nor my workshop?”

  “Nope.” Krvavy makes a loud pop sound as she casually answers her Dwarf. “But that’s mostly because I can just magic them away when they’re no longer needed. I only really started ‘making’ them to speed up the renovations.”

  “Mmm...” The short, grey-skinned woman thoughtfully hums to herself. “May I make a suggestion?”

  “Of course.”

  “You should use those excess bricks to fortify the grotto, and the cave as a whole.” Inanna states, staring up at the barbarian with her intense copper-orange eyes. “Currently, we are relying on our isoted location to secure our home, as well as the somewhat hidden entrance to the cave.”

  A tinge of concern finds its way onto Krvavy’s face. “Are you... worried about someone attacking us?”

  “Not at the moment, no.” The Dwarf shakes her head. “But it is inevitable. You are the Champion of a God. You have the potential to become immensely powerful. Both of those statements on their own are enough to draw the ire of others, those who would not want the status quo to be threatened and those who would not want an obstacle to their own ambitions.”

  “Are you trying to make me worry?” Krvavy can’t help but frown, brow furrowing even further.

  “No, but that is a reality you should be prepared for. We are in no danger for the time being, but that will not always remain true.” The incredibly busty Dwarf – who is also completely naked, as usual – replies in as serious a tone as always. “And yes, I am aware that simple stone fortifications would not hold back a Great Power. But, at the absolute least, they will help with ensuring our peace of mind. Though I will admit that I may be biased in that matter. I am a Dwarf. We are used to living deep below the mountains, segregated from the surface by impenetrable fortresses.”

  “Great, you are trying to make me worry...” The barbarian slowly sighs out.

  “It is always good to worry about the future, provided you work towards quelling those fears.” Inanna replies, slowing down slightly as she wheels the handcart up the hill towards the spot where her workshop will eventually stand. “That said, I am not suggesting this purely for the distant future. Having some basic barriers my be necessary to keep unwanted animals out, which will be more relevant as winter approaches and they seek warm pces to hibernate. It would be quite the nuisance to wake up one day and find that a bear has made its home in Beryl’s garden.”

  “Alright, alright. That’s enough of that.” Krvavy shakes her head and lightly gres down at the Dwarf. “I’ll... do something about it, okay? Maybe build a gate...? I’m not going to do that right away though. I’d rather work on making our home more livable than spend my time carting bricks down through the grotto.”

  “Mmm. As long as you keep that thought in mind. And do not put it off for too long.”

  The two of them briefly fall back into silence, though that doesn’t st long as Inanna’s partially constructed workshop comes into view.

  “Oh yeah, how’re those doing?” Krvavy asks, tilting her head towards the Ore Seeds pnted nearby.

  “Fairly well, I suppose. It is difficult to tell though, as none of them are ready yet.” Inanna says, shrugging her shoulders ever so slightly.

  “Any idea when they’ll be ready?”

  “Perhaps.” The Dwarf answers. “Remember the faint circle that appeared around each Seed after it was pnted? I believe that it represents how close the Seed is to maturity, as each one has had an increase in thickness and brightness slowly expanding around it. I presume that the Seed will be fully grown when the thicker section connects into a full circle.”

  “Makes sense...” The barbarian idly nods her head. From the sound of it, the circles are progress bars and not just a marker for how rge the ore would grow like she had originally assumed. Though, then again, it could be both...

  “In case you are wondering, the Copper Seeds will almost certainly be the first to reach maturity.” Inanna’s neutral voice recaptures Krvavy’s attention. “Their circle was around four fifths of the way around st I checked. They each likely have a few days left. Perhaps another week at most.”

  “Tsk,” Krvavy clicks her tongue, “they’re really taking their time...”

  “We pnted the Seeds just over two weeks ago.” A dry tone enters the Dwarf’s voice. “That they have grown so much in such a short period of time is remarkable. Almost unbelievable, in fact. Even when magic is taken into consideration.”

  “Fair enough. Guess I’m just being impatient.” The barbarian pyfully returns. “And speaking of being impatient, looks like we’re finally at your workshop.”

  The partially constructed building is quite simir to what it was like the st time Krvavy saw it, yet it is also quite different. Stacked bricks still outline where the walls will be, but now most of them are tall enough that Krvavy couldn’t just step over them. There is even a section that looks to be taller than the Drakling herself, those stacked bricks supported by wooden scaffolding.

  “I had some assistance from Beryl.” Inanna idly states as she wheels the handcart towards a gap in the center of the outer wall. “I would have some difficultly making the walls much taller than myself otherwise.”

  “Wow. No wonder you’re using up all of my bricks...” The barbarian slowly breathes out, genuinely surprised by all that Inanna has done so far. “These walls are really thick.”

  “Of course. My workshop must be durable and sturdy.”

  “Yeah, but this feels like a bit much. It’s more like a fortress than a workshop.” Krvavy leans to the side and looks down onto one of the shorter walls nearby. “Seriously, these walls look twice as thick as the ones in our home, and the outer ones you’re building are even thicker.”

  Inanna slows to a stop near the end of what will eventually become a sort of entrance hallway. “You said that I could do whatever I wished with these bricks.” Those rather neutral words sound almost defensive.

  “I’m not criticizing what you’re doing.” The barbarian is quick to crify. “Just making some observations. Like how this pce seems to be one big square. Or at least it would be if we dug into the cave wall over there...”

  “Yes, squares are a rather simple but efficient shape.” Inanna nods her head, her tone returning to its usual calm and rather emotionless state. “Especially for the purpose I am using them in.”

  Krvavy raises an eyebrow as she looks around the construction site, peering over the chest-height walls to get an idea of its yout. The Dwarf’s workshop honestly is just a giant square, albeit one blunted a fair bit by the cave wall it is nestled up against. Four hallways run through the building, meeting together directly in the middle and making a rge plus shape that divides the whole area into four mostly equal quadrants. Well, it’s more like three equal quadrants and one that is a bit closer to being a triangle.

  While the floor pn is fairly aesthetically pleasing, being rather symmetrical, it isn’t what Krvavy would call efficient. Other than the hallway that they are currently standing in, the other three all seem to be dead ends: the two surrounding that misshapen quadrant lead directly into the cave wall, and the other one leads directly off of a short cliff.

  “Well, these hallways don’t exactly feel efficient.” The barbarian speaks her mind. “The rooms would have more space inside if you just mushed them together and made them share walls.”

  “I can understand how you would think that, considering the unfinished state of my workshop.” Inanna replies, moving the handcart forwards so that she can stand in the direct center of the partially constructed building.

  “At the end of this hallway,” the Dwarf gestures to Krvavy’s right, towards the first dead end, “I pn on installing an array of crystals to store and regute the mana that my workshop will use. While a more central location may be more efficient in terms of actively channelling mana through the building, that spot will almost certainly be more secure due to its retive isotion. Of course, I will likely have smaller crystal banks in each individual room, but that is a more lofty pn for the future.”

  The Dwarf suddenly turns and gestures to the hallway behind her, the one that is straight ahead of the ‘entrance’ they came in through.

  “I have two intentions for this hallway.” Inanna continues on. “First, I would like for it to pass through to the other side of my workshop. There is a small clear area out there that will be mostly isoted from the rest of the cave once construction is complete. That location will be perfect as a ‘garden’: a pce to grow the more valuable and rare Ore Seeds. Second, I pn on having the stairs over there, though they will not be needed for quite some time.”

  “You want to build a second floor?” Krvavy quirks her brow as a bit of astonishment enters her voice. This workshop is already big enough as is.

  “Mmm. Not entirely. It will be more of a roof access than anything.” Inanna crifies, before turning the handcart and pushing it in the st direction. “As you can see, this hallway currently leads towards the cliff edge, ending just a few paces shy of the drop. I did not leave that there as a window, as a spot to look out across the cave towards our home. No, I intend for that to be a doorway into another room, one that will need a sturdy foundation built up from the ground below. As you may guess, my most ambitious pns y in this direction.”

  “And just how big do you want this st room to be...?” The Drakling hesitantly asks, leaning forwards and looking down over the edge of the cliff. The ground isn’t anywhere near as far as the drop from their bedroom is, but it is still over twice her own height. So it is a pretty significant drop for a woman as short as her Dwarf.

  “I would like it to reach the river just ahead, making it just a little longer than a single one of the rooms I currently have. As for its width... I have not yet decided on that. Perhaps to that column there? Centered on this doorway, that would be less than double the width of the current rooms.”

  “Okay...” Krvavy slowly steps back, taking a deep breath in and then out. “That will be a lot of bricks. I do pn on digging out an entire floor, so the amount isn’t really a problem, but... Well, have fun with that.”

  “I did say that my most ambitious pns y in this direction.” The faintest smile pys at the Dwarf’s lips as she makes that pin statement. “I will save you the details of what the exact purpose of this room would be, but I will say I intend to pump some water up from the river while also using said river to generate a constant source of kinetic energy via a couple free surface waterwheels. Not the most efficient, but that should be sufficient for the foreseeable future. If things change and I need more, then I can utilize the potential energy of that waterfall just a bit further downstream via a pitchback waterwheel, though I would certainly need your help for that. More so than I already will, of course.”

  “That’s... Wow. And to think that you kept saying my pns for our home were too grand~.” The Drakling pyfully teases her Dwarf.

  “Mmm. I recall that my ‘criticisms’ were regarding your constant changing of pns, not their grandeur.” Inanna replies, her neutral voice just barely containing a joking tone.

  “Yeah, yeah. Don’t act like you aren’t benefiting from that.” Krvavy shakes her head in mock annoyance. “You need all of that stone I’ll be digging up.”

  “Indeed.” The Dwarf simply nods, before turning and wheeling her handcart through the doorway of the one room in her workshop with walls taller than Krvavy.

  “I take it that this is the room you’re trying to get finished before moving onto the rest of the building?” The barbarian guesses, trailing her gaze across the scaffolding hugging onto these incomplete walls.

  “Yes. While I do enjoy the fact that I have the freedom to create my own workshop, I do also miss having a proper pce to practice my craft.” The Dwarf stops the handcart next to a column in the center of the room. “You can pce those bricks down here.”

  “Right.” Krvavy nods her head and does as her Dwarf said, before gncing over to a hole in the wall that looks out over the cliffs edge. “That where you’re going to put the forge?”

  “A forge.” Inanna crifies. “I intend for there to be another in the room across the hall.”

  Krvavy briefly raises an eyebrow but simply shrugs rather than speak up. The Dwarf knows what she is doing, so no need to really question it.

  “Mm... I suppose that this room will be finished soon, so in a few days I may require your aid in solidifying these walls. I will, of course, make such an expenditure of mana more than worth it.”

  “Will you now?” The barbarian’s lips curl into a pyful smile, her emerald eyes gleaming as her interest is piqued. “Well, I’d be happy to help you with that~. But, for now, I’ll leave you to your work. And get back to mine.”

  The Dwarf simply hums in acknowledgement, grabbing a brick from her cart as Krvavy turns to leave.