The next handful of days were quite busy; after fashioning the twins and a brief discussion with them – and the rest of my dungeon inhabitants – I decided to wait for some time before expanding the dungeons facilities any further. I calculated I would need about three days to fully recharge my reserves of essence, so much of that time was spent planning for the additional facilities that would be created to round out the dungeon; the remaining three buildings would, in time, be repurposed into a pair of challenge arenas(one for purely combat purposes, the other for more mental pursuits – I still stand by my original feelings of disinterest in the topic, but as Finn had pointed out that my original academy idea required some extensive reworking, I had to have something for the adventurers to do. ) and my dungeon's first resource node, in the form of a sprawling, multistory greenhouse. Herbal lore was an underappreciated branch of knowledge, despite how so many plants were useful for a multitude of purposes, both mundane and magical.

But before any further construction took place, I took some time to fully recharge, and spent some time making minor improvements to the overall capabilities of the dungeon – the furnishings received another round of upgrades, for one, replacing the rough-hewn wooden furniture with something far more polished and smooth, if still rather plain. I also discovered that both the resources offered by the dungeon and the lesser residents (called minions by the interface) also required their own individual forms of research. Increasing the tier of available materials not only granted access to more exotic resources, but also improved the purity and abundance of lower-ranked goods, though though each specific category – herbs, ores, lumber, etc. – had to be researched individually.

Naturally, I was quite enthusiastic about pursuing this particular line of advancement, as the druidic arts had been one of my great passions in my first life. Of course, actually constructing the greenhouse was a task easier said than done – apparently giving a building more than one floor was an enhancement that needed to be unlocked, as was the ability to offer multiple harvestable materials in a single location, to my frustration. To some degree I understood, as many of the restrictions of the system seemed to be put in place to limit the exploitation and abuse of resources, but it was one thing to understand that intellectually and another to deal with those restrictions as they hampered my ability to build.

There was no point in complaining about it however. It would do me no good and the only entity in the position to possibly intercede was the Interface, and they were not inclined to do anything beyond answering questions. In the end, all I really had to lose was time, so while the system worked its background magic and opened up those avenues of construction for me, I busied myself with more personal concerns. Specifically, I arranged some time to speak privately with the twins, eager to understand them better and curious to see what they were capable of.

We left the dining hall to converse – Nawra had all but shooed us out the door when I brought up the topic of a private conversation, and as we were leaving she took Finn into the little kitchen to show him a new recipe she was working on. The pair had gotten quite close in the last few days, which I greatly approved of. It was important for her to get used to interacting with beings from outside the dungeon, and it was just as important for Finn to spend time with more than just myself. These thoughts and others occupied me for part of our walk; both I and the twins were comfortable enough in silence that we could walk in companionable quiet, though I could feel the unspoken question coming from both of them as we stopped first at the library.

"I can feel your curiosity, children. I figured we could use this little opportunity not only to learn about each other, but about our new home as well. I've given you each the responsibility of caring for a portion of the dungeon, but I'm also interested in your opinions on how those places should be arranged and put to use."

The twins nodded their understanding, thoughtful expressions on both faces as they glanced around the rather stark surroundings. A gesture summoned the interface, ready and waiting for us to get to work designing the library, though it was slow going at first. For whatever reason, while the interface was visible to them neither were able to touch the screen or affect the menus displayed within, which necessitated manual intervention on my part.

"Apologies, I suppose I should have made sure you could interact with the Interface before we began."

"It is well enough, maker. My sister and I can deal with the minor inconvenience, for such a thoughtful gift."

Nuha nodded her agreement to my left, even as she was busy pointing out some lovely tapestry patterns to decorate the walls – she had quite the eye for complementary color and shape, though as a bard (according to her assigned class, anyway) I was not surprised.

"Indeed, Irfan is correct. Though I have to ask, why us? If you want us to design the parts of the dungeon we are responsible for, should you not have began with eldest sister and her hall?"

There's no judgment in her tone, but for all the politeness I can feel the sharp edge of those words, and when I responded with a smile I could see that it threw her off a bit.

"I intend to overhaul her area as well, no need to worry. But her hall and the living quarters are, for the most part, complete and functional. They can do with some sprucing up, but they work. Both the library and your assembly hall, on the other hand, still require some decisions to be made. The library requires stocking, for one, arrangements for work and study areas for another, and so does the hall. Once we have them completed, I can turn my attention towards finishing the domestic areas and finalizing my plans for the remaining buildings."

"… I see. No offense, maker, but your priorities do seem a bit piecemeal. I would have assumed that you would've completed each location in its entirety before moving on."

"None taken, Nuha. I've only been at this for a week after all – it's not as if I know exactly what I'm doing."

That ended that particular discussion, the twins accepting that logic.

From there decorating continued at a swift pace, the twins proving themselves quite tasteful in matters of furnishing; they chose a dark palette to work with, filling the space with tables and shelves of rich, polished red-black rosewood and covering the floor and walls with long rugs and tapestries of geometric clover and indigo – both the colors and the plants, with tasteful silver borders between the designs – resulting in a very forest-like aesthetic. I had to admit it probably wasn't a look I would've come up with for a library, but I couldn't deny that it was very pleasing to the eye.

"Interesting choices. You both have quite the eye for design."

It was heartwarming to watch the both of them preen under the praise.

"Now, with the decor settled for the library, let's add some functional touches to the place. I budgeted a small pool of essence for each of you, so you can request some improvements for your respective areas of the dungeon. Why don't we take a look and see what we can make?"

* * * * *

Far from the ongoing renovation efforts in the library, a most singular pair was busy at work in the kitchen. Finn, as talented as he was at scavenging edibles from the wilderness – when he wasn't dying of blood loss and a mildly cursed infection – had never really learned much about cooking beyond the basics. Watching Nawra the last few days had taught him a few things, and at some point, without any real discussion on the topic, he become her unofficial helper. He found he quite liked working beside her; not only was she good at her craft, but friendly and easy to learn from. Every step carefully explained, with both spoken and practical demonstration, and an endless well of patience with his inevitable mistakes. Learning at her side made his heart feel warm and soothed a quiet longing he never let himself acknowledge these days.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He tried not to think too hard about how happy it made him feel – it made his eyes wet and achy.

Today's lesson was, as usual, a foodstuff he'd never even heard of, with ingredients it would've never occurred to him to combine. The first bit had been easy enough – fried balls of dough, not too different from doughnuts or fritters at festival time. It was the rest that caught him off guard; while their dough rested, Nawra had shown Finn how to toast spices, slowly working a small cast iron pan over flame as dried spices released their oils and made the kitchen smell decadent and heavenly, and then demonstrated how to make rosewater for syrup. Finn didn't even know that was a thing, pulling flavors from flowers like that! He watched in fascination as Nawra carefully tipped in the toasted spices – cinnamon bark, cloves, and some strange green pod called cardamom that was unlike anything he'd ever tasted before – and let them steep in the syrup.

"There. Now we'll just let those flavors infuse the syrup, then we add a little lemon juice, to keep the syrup from hardening, and a sprinkle of rosewater for richness. A shame we don't have any saffron to give the syrup that beautiful golden color, but I suppose that's still too rich for the budget."

Finn, of course, had no idea what that would look like, but he found himself agreeing nonetheless – it was a shame that they didn't have any saffron, whatever the hell that was.

"So how long is it supposed to soak in the syrup?"

"Not too long, for the spices anyway – a double handful of minutes, at most. The dough, on the other hand, takes a few hours to properly flavor. But it's very much worth it, soft and sweet, and full of rich flavor."

"Yeah?"

A shrug, a wry smile crossing the elder jackal's face.

"Hopefully. I've never made them before, after all. I only know what the system and maker Zahur passed on."

"Oh...right."

Finn was clearly getting too used to being in the dungeon – he kept forgetting that, as much as Nawra seemed like a wise old grandmother, she was still less than a week old, with the knowledge and memories to match. Still, all of her culinary decisions had been spot on so far, so he had no reason to doubt this one.

"Well… I guess we'll find out soon enough, right? I can't wait to try 'em!"

"I'm sure, but do try and be patient. It's not too much longer until dinner, and then dessert."

"Okay."

Waiting would be a hardship, but he was sure he could muster up the bravery to endure.

"So what are we making for dinner then? Anything you need me to get started?"

"I was thinking mustard chicken and falafel. If you would be a dear and start grinding the mustard seed, and I'll get the chicken cut up to marinade?"

Finn practically bounced with each step as he grabbed the mortar, salivating with anticipation. If it was anything like her other dishes, the dinner was going to be rich, filling, and decadently spicy!

Grinding seeds to paste was an activity that did not allow for much reflection or distraction, which Finn was grateful for; he relished any excuse not to dwell on why he hadn't made any effort to return home. As long as none of the jackals felt the need to push, well – there is no need to dwell. Those memories could be his little secret.

* * * * *

Perhaps I should not have been surprised at the choices the twins made. As much as the library was Irfan's domain, being made to work so closely with a counterpart meant that he naturally considered her needs and desires when designing his workspace, and as we finished the initial renovations he had selected two upgrades to his library – for himself, the [GRIMOIRIUM], supplying the library with advanced texts on magical workings, and, bowing to his sister's tastes as a bard, [LEXICON], the shelves groaning with the weight of the hundreds of novels and treatises on the written word.

Not that I objected to this arrangement; I hadn't made them counterparts with the expectation that they wouldn't coordinate, after all, I simply hadn't expected them to be so instinctively accommodating. Perhaps the dungeon residents – including myself, in this new life – were a bit more like the gods and spirits of the old world than I had thought; intelligent and willful, but compelled to behave in accordance with their nature. It was a somewhat unsettling thought – though it would explain why it had been so easy for me to move past my early misgivings and begin bringing my creations to life.

… Perhaps now wasn't quite the right time to ruminate on these thoughts.

"That just leaves the lecture hall for today; once we have that squared away, we can rest for a bit – and enjoy whatever delicious dinner Nawra and Finn are putting together for us."

That's certainly perked the pair up – as much as none of us actually needed to eat, meals together had quickly become a pleasant fixture of daily life in the dungeon.

Working on the lecture hall presented a somewhat different challenge from the library – after discussion with Finn and the rest of the dungeon residents, it was determined the lecture hall would be an excellent place for challenges involving the demonstration of trade and craft skills – and the learning of them. Distinct enough from the challenge arenas that it should not be redundant, but just closely related enough to provide valuable experience for when it came time to construct those areas.

As before, the first order of business was deciding on an acceptable design for the space, and it presented different challenges from the library – a proper assembly hall was a space for lecture and demonstration rather than pure research, so acoustics, sight-lines, and working space were much higher priority.

As such, everything was bolder, brighter, far more inviting and eye-catching. Wood in warm golden tones, pine and ash and even polished dogwood with its hints of pink, flanked by workstations of oak and white marble – and at the head of the hall, rows of bleachers encased in shimmering brass and sagging under the weight thick and fluffy cushions for sitting. Like the library it exuded an aura of comfort, but this was clearly a place of activity, a place of work, rather than a space a relaxation and research.

Like the library, I had allocated a small budget for additional improvements, and between the two of them Nuha and Irfan had devised an interesting selection of workspaces – the left side of the hall had become a testing ground for all things magical, with pairs of workstations for the alchemical and enchanting arts, and the right sprouting into a a bevy of tables dedicated to more mundane engineering arts of all kinds; a quick glance showed safe-cracking equipment, repair kits, needles and thread, and almost any other small tool perfect for the fieldwork of an adventurer. In other words, perfect places for adventurers to practice their skills safely and reliably, and to pick up new ones in a controlled environment.

"Excellent work, I'm very pleased with how you've arranged your spaces in the dungeon. I know it's still very basic, but I am quite proud of you, and I can't wait to see adventurers enjoying what you've built for them."

I settled a hand on each of their shoulders, a wide smile on my lips, and while obviously they didn't blush, it wasn't hard to read the mingled emotions of embarrassment and pleasure on their features. As old and stoic as they appeared, they were still children, more or less, and they responded well to sincere praise.

"Thank you, maker. I hope my humble hall lives up to your kind words."

"I must echo my sister's hope, and I will do all I can to live up to your expectations."

I squeezed their shoulders softly, reassuringly, and nodded.

"I have no doubt that you will. But enough work talk – I do believe you were promised a delightful dinner, and tonight is a special night; Nawra is making gulab jamun!"

The nonplussed expression on the twins faces pulled a small chuckle from me, as I started walking my way back towards the dining hall.

"You may not know what that is yet, but I promise once you've had them, you'll understand exactly why that's special."

I stepped out of the lecture hall and onto the soft grass of the courtyard, and I followed the rich smell of mustard chicken and spicy syrup. Today has been a long and draining day – in more ways than one, my gut still aching from the expenditure of essence – but tonight I had a wonderful dinner and the company of my growing family to look forward to, and all was well.