“Joe!" Zoe called out when she walked through his door to Joe alone in his dining area, sitting on a metal stood behind the bar sipping from a wooden mug.

  “Zoe?" Joe looked over at her with a puzzled look on his face. ”I thought you were heading to the capital again?"

  “I was. But then I got a little distracted with something else.” Zoe chuckled. “I think they’re fine though, really. I’m not the greatest help with all the cleanup anyway. They’ve got plenty of healers to help with any remnants of the attack and my magic’s not all that well suited to destroying it anyway.”

  Joe shrugged. “Well, I haven’t heard of any catastrophe striking again because you weren’t there just yet. What are you back here for?"

  “Well,” Zoe walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the stools. “I decided to go visit Mike. Who I apparently named Greg?”

  Joe chuckled. “I think Emma named him Greg, wasn’t it?"

  “Was it? I can’t remember, it was quite a while ago now.” Zoe said.

  “I think it was Emma. She did something, at least.” Joe said. “How’d it go, though? Do things look alright for us?”

  Zoe snapped her fingers and formed a frost statue of the creature Greg had shown off. “You know what these are?”

  Joe picked up the statue and spun it around, shaking his head. “No, I’ve never heard of anything like this before. I can ask the council, if you’d like?”

  “Probably. I mean I don’t care if you do or don’t, but you should probably ask them anyway. They’ve visited a few times, according to Greg. I left him a message to give them the next time they visit, which will probably be a few more years if the pattern continues. There were quite a few humans who visited as well, but nobody’s cleared the dungeon since that first person. Greg had a whole ledger of everybody, I should’ve just brought those tablets now that I think about it.” Zoe said.

  “This group wasn’t aggressive?” Joe asked.

  Zoe shook her head. “Not according to Greg, anyway. I didn’t really ask particularly well now that I think about it, though. I could’ve have been more clear. But they visit every four years and I think Greg would have told me if there was anybody else aggressive. They didn’t clear the dungeon, but I guess that doesn’t mean they didn’t try, huh?"

  Joe chuckled. “I think the people we’re sending up there will be fine with some infrequent chaos, regardless. How’s the temperature there now? Have they managed to get it a bit warmer?"

  “A bit, in some places. It’s still all freezing though, I don’t think it’s going to be possible to get it above freezing, ever. So anybody who goes to live there is going to have to have their own means of surviving in that temperature.” Zoe said.

  “We’ll figure something out for that. Maybe we could sell some enchanted clothes with cold resistance and some warming effects. We’re hardly afraid of the cold here in Foizo with all the snow we get every year, anyway.” Joe said.

  “It’s a bit different, Joe. At least here you can come inside to a warm house. Up on the moon, inside is also cold. Everything is cold, always. And they have a lot of mana to maintain that, too. Like, an incredible amount. You’ll probably need some people I can trust with my skill to develop the buildings better. They’ve gotten into this frost construction stuff which is great for storing mana and seems quite sturdy, but it’s terrible at giving people privacy.” Zoe explained.

  Joe sighed. “And who, besides myself and Emma, do you trust, Zoe?”

  “Peter? Lauren? I might trust Sally, too at this point.” Zoe said. “Maybe some others. I could be convinced. Oh. Eliza, too.”

  Joe scoffed. “Not in the timeframe we want to work in. Maybe if we gave you another thirty years to get to know some people.”

  “It wouldn’t take that long, Joe!” Zoe whined. “Maybe only a couple years? Five?"

  Joe laughed as he poured himself another drink from one of the large barrels hanging from the wall behind him. “It’s fine, Zoe. I’ll just spend some time on the moon myself. I imagined we’d have to make some changes to your dungeon, and there’s no one better suited to that than myself. Emma could do it but she’s not part of the council so that would be complicated. You could do it, but you’re not going to.”

  “No, yeah. I’m definitely not. I’m alright with y’all using my dungeon, but I’m not going to be the goddess of it or anything like that.” Zoe said.

  “Right,” Joe spread his arms out and smiled. “So then meet god.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes. “I’ll spend some time and help out, I guess. When do you think you’ll get started?”

  Joe sipped from his mug of golden beer and munched on a piece of bread he summoned. “Hmm. Things in the capital seem to be settling down now, so maybe we’ll get started in a week or two?” Joe raised a finger. “Before you get excited, we’re not going to be moving anybody up there for at least another four to five months, at minimum. We need some time to explore it ourselves and see what needs to be done to prepare people for the move, and then some more time to actually do all of those things.”

  “Right, that makes sense.” Zoe said. “Alright, well I’m gonna head back to the capital and see how things look. If it’s looking better I think I’m just gonna come back here and relax, honestly. I wanna help, but this break has made me realize that it was actually really stressful, you know?”

  Joe nodded. “It was stressful from here, I can’t imagine what it would have been like on the front lines.”

  “Terrible, Joe. Just awful, honestly. Nobody near me died, which I’m proud of, but we didn’t have enough healers for the entire wall. Some sections were…” Zoe hesitated. “It wasn’t fun.”

  “It’s alright, Zoe.” Joe said. “Nobody’s going to blame you if you don’t go back. You can just stay here and relax if you like. Get back to working on your seventh class, explore what your new class can really do. Have some fun for a bit. If something happens again I’m sure they’ll contact us and I’ll let you know right away, alright?"

  “Thanks, Joe.” Zoe said. “I think I’ll go check on it though, just to make sure. I feel responsible for it all somehow. I know it’s not my fault, but if I just checked up on the Okiu before, if I made sure it was completely destroyed. If I just…” Zoe sighed. “I know it’s not my fault. I do. I was barely level twenty at the time, facing the pinnacle of power in front of me. I was reckless and stupid and in way over my head and still somehow stumbled my way through it well enough. But I just remember that darkness, on the wall. The screams. And I just can’t help but think. What if? What if I could go back and make sure all of the darkness was truly gone?”

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  “You can’t even be sure it’s the same thing, Zoe.” Joe said. “If somebody kept some of the corruption back then, why wouldn’t it have seeped out in the midst of Flester’s destruction? They all survived that attack, somehow? Maybe it was the same corruption, but if it showed up outside of Flester on its own, it could have shown up outside of the capital on its own. You’re not responsible, Zoe.”

  “I know I’m not. And I feel good about the impact I had on the attack. I do, Joe. It’s just that sometimes my mind wanders and it goes somewhere dark.” Zoe said.

  Joe summoned another wooden mug and filled it with the pink rawbi cider, slamming it down in front of Zoe. “It’s not your fault, Zoe. You’ve done more than enough to help out, and you’re even offering up a safe place for people to move to. Be proud of yourself.”

  “You’re right,” Zoe sighed. “You’re right. I did good. I did good enough.”

  The bell on Joe’s door jingled as somebody walked in to the empty tavern.

  “Anyway,” Joe said. “Go visit Emma. Let her know you’ll be sticking around. Spend some time with the cats, maybe try and teach Emma that Sending skill of yours. Last I heard she took a class with mana sight so she can have an easier time with it and she’s waiting for you to help her out. She didn’t wanna pressure you while you were worked up, but she’s been pretty antsy about it.”

  Zoe chuckled. “Sure. Alright, thanks Joe. It means a lot that you’re always here to listen to me.”

  “It was a lot easier when your biggest problem was whether or not a tent counted as a house or discovering that boars had levels, though.” Joe laughed.

  “Excuse me,” the young woman who walked in said as she approached the bar. “I don’t want to be rude but do you have a room available for tonight?"

  Zoe nodded to Joe as he turned his attention to the patron in his bar and then took a meandering path through the city to her home in the hill. Foizo was such a relaxing place to be, she found. It was almost like Flester — with many of the residents being formed Flester residents, but there was a sense of togetherness that Flester lacked.

  Flester was so diverse, with incredible displays of magic and a stark contrast between the wealthy and the not quite poverty but notably less wealthy. Foizo was much more equal, the floor of luxury brought up thanks to the incredible amount of wealth brought in by the nearby high level dungeon. The people were always so comfortable and happy and the snow was handled by the abundance of fire magic that flooded the city. Everybody and their neighbour seemed to have the Fire skill, thanks to the nearby Fire elementals in the dungeon. Dozens of stores had opened, selling the slayer feat to any interested parties for just a handful of silver coins.

  Zoe missed the winters in Flester sometimes, watching all of the different methods people have to clear away the snow from the streets. Smashing it out of existence with their raw power, disintegrating it with magic, melting it and storing away the water or just storing the snow itself for use later. It was fascinating and interesting, but inefficient. Foizo’s snow was handled almost exclusively by fire magic, and while much more organized, it lacked that mysticism that Flester had. A shame, Zoe thought.

  “Emma!” Zoe shouted as she Cosmic Leaped into the main hallway in her home, just outside the kitchen.

  “Emma?” Zoe asked as she Cosmic Leaped into the cats’ room. Oliver was sleeping up on the wall in one of the heated nooks Zoe made, while Fennel and Emma were both sprawled out on the floor snoring. A small puddle of drool had built up next to Emma’s face.

  “Emma.” Zoe nudged Emma’s side with her foot.

  “MHmghm?" Emma stirred awake, wiping the drool from her mouth with her bare arm and scrunching her face in disgust when she felt her elbow dip into the pool next to her. ”Eugh.“

  A pulse of blue light washed out over her, cleaning up the mess and getting rid of a faint smell Zoe hadn’t even noticed was there. Did drool smell bad? Maybe Emma ate something before she passed out?

  “Zoe?" Emma blinked her eyes a few times, reaching her hand over and pawing around to try and find Fennel. When she did, she pulled him up to her and hugged him. ”Good little Bennel.“

  Fennel meowed and scurried away to a nook of his own where he started bathing himself.

  “Damn, you were out, huh?” Zoe laughed.

  “Hmm?” Emma rubbed her eyes. “I will have you know, I was having a perfectly good nap with little Bo Bennel.”

  “You were covered in drool.” Zoe said.

  “Yeah, and?" Emma stretched her limbs out on the floor.

  “And you were snoring.” Zoe said.

  “Like I said, a perfectly good nap with the little baby boy.” Emma said. “What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going back to the capital.”

  Zoe explained everything that had happened since she left.

  “So you’re gonna be back in Foizo for a while?” Emma asked.

  “I am, yeah. And I’ve heard that you’ve got a magic class right now?” Zoe asked.

  Emma nodded. “I thought that if anything was going to help with the darkness it would be a magic class. Was better than nothing.”

  “Wanna get started on learning the sending skill?” Zoe asked.

  “Yes!" Emma shot up from the floor. ”Yes I do.“

  Zoe grabbed Emma’s arm and Cosmic Leaped them into the kitchen, where she summoned a couple notebooks and formed a wooden pen. “Here,” Zoe handed the books and pen to Emma. “Get writing.”

  “Huh?” Emma asked.

  “You wanna learn Sending, right?" Zoe asked.

  “Heck yeah I do.” Emma said.

  “Then get writing. I’m going to have to send you thousands of messages before you figure it out, you know?" Zoe said.

  “And I have to write each one? By hand?" Emma asked. ”Can you help?"

  Zoe laughed. “Absolutely not. I’m gonna go have a perfectly good nap with the kittens while you get to work.”

  “But that was my job.” Emma whined.

  “Not anymore. They don’t have to be anything major but you’ll need at least a little writing. Like a single word. Just, thousands of times.” Zoe said.

  “That’s gonna take like, two hours though.” Emma whined. “You sure you can’t just help? You even have your fancy far writing skill or whatever its called.”

  “Nope.” Zoe Cosmic Leaped into the cats’ room and giggled to herself as she listened to Emma whine from the other side of the wall.

  “Boys, pspspsps.” Zoe snapped her fingers as she laid down on the carpeted floors, hoping one of the cats would come over to cuddle. Neither did, but Zoe found herself drifting off to sleep to the sounds of Oliver snoring and Fennel bathing himself regardless.

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