. The evening of Thirdday, my contact with Dilorè brought news that the pass was clear. It was too late in the month to wait for moonset to ride across the plateau– it would be full moon in just a few more days–  but Allia’s Company would ride out from the village at an hour past Midnight, which would time …

. I could swim faster using Water mana, but my tail still allowed me speeds impossible for a human. With alarm boosting my speed, it took me less than five minutes to cover the mile or so to the exit. After another two minutes, as the water became too shallow for swimming, I breached the surface inside the passage and …

. Being underwater, and having no technique to project my voice, I wasn’t able to respond immediately. I was ten paces deep, surrounded by near-total darkness, but to my right, one of the ‘islands’ rose against the southern wall. It had a dense stand of cattails for ramparts, but a small breech at one point made a good place for …

. Dilorè’s first words left me speechless for a moment. It took a few seconds to regroup and reply. “It has only been since this morning, My Lady. Why are you yelling?” “I’ve been trying to contact you for hours! I’m ready to go down to look for you!” I rested my forehead in my hand. In retrospect, I probably …

. It was certainly a long evening, as Amelia and Chiara listened to my story. The evening grew cold and they had to start the ‘fire’ in the ‘fireplace’, which was actually a magic heating tool, running on Fire element magic stones. Many times, they had trouble believing me, of course, although Brigitte defended me pretty vigorously. The fact that …

. I’m not sure what I expected out of Amelia, but I’m sure I expected her to stumble. This was Amelia, my flighty, proud-but-friendly foster sister, the girl who had been Tiana’s number one motivation for becoming a knight. She was easily saddened, although quick to recover, and not one who had experienced troubles in her life, discounting the last …

. Unlike the eternal twilights of the main cavern and the pleasure dome, night followed day in Taihimel’s world. As we showed up not long before dark, Amelia and Chiara picked up their fishing gear, including a bucket filled with water and a small catch of perch and brought us to the stone cottage beside the garden. They were both …

. Brigitte and I looked around, mystified by the voice that had rung out. It wasn’t clear which direction was ‘forward’, nor was the voice giving us any indication as to what reason we should have to cooperate. I realized that the voice had spoken in Ancient Fairy. Or rather, in the Elder ‘Child Language’, which was also the language …

. I expected to emerge from the seemingly endless maze of empty corridors of the complex into an underworld similar to the one where we had left Diurhimath. The reality to which we arrived couldn’t have been more different. The final corridor terminated in a closed door, which I feared would be as stuck as the door I had failed …

. As we began passing empty doorways in the corridor, Brigitte couldn’t stop herself from investigating, but she was profoundly disappointed in the place by the time she investigated the third room. The rooms really were entirely empty. At first, I thought that even the doors were missing, until I remembered that they slid out of the door frame rather …