Zoe and Emma landed back in Joe’s inn almost a day later — to the best of Zoe’s ability to tell. Time was difficult to perceive out in space without the rotation of the planet to base it off of. The sun was high in the sky and people were out walking through the streets. A simple, subdued pleasantness filled the air with some undercurrents of anxiety. Nothing unusual, to Zoe’s memory.

Joe wasn’t there, the slight tug on Zoe’s shoulder pulling her somewhere to the north of town. But Kenzie and Sue were both out in the main dining area tidying up some dishes and scraps thrown about on the floor. Nobody else was in the dining area at the moment, but Zoe could hear some quiet chattering from the people upstairs in their rooms.

Cleaning skills were wonderful and ubiquitous in this world, but while they might clean a dirty plate they wouldn’t put it away. There was no tidying skill it seemed. Unless there was. Maybe there was, Zoe realized.

She could do the same thing with her Space skill, push the objects around to their spaces by manipulating the space around them. Perhaps with enough practice she could even just teleport them directly there with her Space skill. Maybe if she did it in just the right way, the system would grant her a tidying skill and she could live a life of lazy degeneracy for a few decades.

“Hey Emma!" Kenzie called out when Zoe Cosmic Stepped them into Joe’s inn. ”Oh! Zoe! You’re back too!“

“Hi girls,” Emma said to the sisters.

“Hi Emma!” Sue said. “Hi Zoe!”

“Hello, yes I’m back. I think Joe said you wanted to talk to me?” Zoe asked.

“Joe says you used to hate taxes.” Sue said. “I hate taxes. How do bring yourself to deal with them? I hate doing my taxes.”

Zoe chuckled, thinking back on her time in Flester. Her odd aversion to dealing with taxes. There wasn’t even really a point to it, it just felt so pointless to her at the time. She was in another world with magic and a whole system that granted them wondrous powers. And she’d have to sit down to file her taxes?

On a very fundamental level, that offended her. In time she got over it, the excitement she felt from the world had fell away and she began to enjoy just being a part of it. But those first few years, the very thought of being bogged down with politics and bureaucracy was unthinkable.

“I don’t really do taxes.” Zoe said as she pulled up a chair to sit down.

“What? How do you not do taxes?” Sue asked.

“Well I’m just very wealthy now and any taxes on stuff I buy is dealt with by the people I buy things from. I don’t really make money anymore, and don’t really have a need to make money anymore. So I don’t have to deal with taxes.” Zoe answered.

“So your solution to taxes is to just get so rich you don’t have to pay them anymore?" Kenzie asked.

Zoe nodded. “Yup. Basically. I’m barely even in any one town for long enough to be able to get a proper job anymore, so I don’t make any income in towns and then don’t have to pay any taxes. Maybe one day they start taxing income from Flester’s Might though. Then I’ll be in trouble.” She chuckled.

“That’s cheating.” Sue said.

“Yup.” Zoe laughed. “It sure is.”

“Taxes aren’t that bad, really.” Emma added. “They pay for everything that we like to have here. Our walls, the guards that patrol them to keep us safe. The roads that lead to nearby towns and cities, the dungeon, and even just through the city. It’s a little tedious to have to deal with it all, but it’s not that big of a deal either really.”

“It’s so confusing, though.” Sue said.

“Pay more then. Just save up definitely more than you need and send it to them with a copy of your income, and they’ll return whatever is excess.” Emma said.

“Wait you can do that? Why did nobody tell me about that before? I so would have done that.” Zoe asked.

“It wasn’t, in Flester.” Emma said.

“Ah. Do y’all have healthcare here, by the way?" Zoe asked.

“Healthcare?” Kenzie asked.

“Yeah, like if you get injured, can you get free healing?” Zoe explained.

“I don’t think so. There are a few clinics though, but I don’t know if they’re free.” Kenzie said. “I always just come here if we get an injury and Joe heals us up. Or if you’ve been around recently, one of the little green things you fill the city with.”

“Wait, Joe has a healing skill?” Zoe asked.

“Through his cooking, sort of. It’s not very good but it does the job.” Sue said.

“Hmm. Neat. I should try getting my cooking skill up more and see what kinda stuff it can do someday.” Zoe said.

“Not much,” Sue said.

“You have it? What level?” Zoe asked.

“Mine’s at one twenty two right now.” Sue said. “I help out a lot with Joe and at Peter and Lauren’s restaurant.”

“And it still doesn’t do much for you either? For buffs and stuff?" Zoe asked.

Sue shook her head. “Not really. I’ve heard you need a class for all the extra stuff, the cooking skill is mostly just making it taste better.”

“Hmm.” Zoe hummed.

“Where did you go anyway? Joe wouldn’t tell us.” Kenzie asked.

“We went to the moon.” Emma grinned. “Walked around on it. Brought back some souvenirs, too.” She summoned some moon rocks from her storage item and placed them on the table.

“Woah. Really? You were on the moon?” Kenzie asked.

“Yup.” Emma held her head up, full of pride.

“When’s Joe coming back?” Zoe asked.

“I dunno. He left a couple hours ago for a council meeting. Should be back soon if nothing happens, probably. But sometimes he gets distracted on the way back.” Kenzie answered.

Zoe nodded. “Alright, well I’ll wait around. You can head back home if you wanna see the cats, Emma.”

“This is really from the moon?" Sue asked, poking one of the rocks resting on the table.

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“Yeah. It’s basically all made up of this. And dust. Oh my god the dust.” Zoe laughed. She’d scraped most of the dust that clung to their forms off as they travelled back to the planet, but a part of her felt like she’d be finding it stuck under her nails or behind her ears for the next ten years.

“I’ll wait.” Emma said. “The cats will be fine. Joe didn’t say anything was wrong with them, right?"

“No, they’re both good. We were there earlier this morning playing with them.” Sue said. “They’re so cute.”

“They are so cute!” Emma smiled. “They’re the cutest, aren’t they?"

“Idu’s pretty cute too, though.” Kenzie said.

“Idu is a good third, but little Fennel Bennel and Ollie Bo Bollie are the cutest.” Emma said with a firm nod.

“Could we go to the moon?" Kenzie asked.

“I guess. I mean, I don’t really wanna get bogged down with a taxi service to the moon but if Joe says it’s okay I don’t mind taking you to the moon too. It’s a long trip, though.” Zoe said.

“How long?" Sue asked.

“It’s hard to tell, cause we’re not on the planet when we’re on space. So the sun doesn’t rise and set, it’s just always there. But probably about a day to get there, and a day to get back. And if I’m carrying both of you at the same time then that’ll drain my mana even more so maybe two days there, two days back. The moon is really, really far away.” Zoe answered.

“But you’re so fast!” Kenzie said.

“Yeah, I am. And the moon is stupidly far away.” Zoe responded.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s that far, though.” Sue said.

“I know right? I felt like it would be just a couple hours, but it took soooo long.” Emma drawled.

“And why does Joe have to say its okay anyway? We’re our own adults you know?” Kenzie asked as she crossed her arms.

“Cause if I took you to the moon and Joe didn’t like that, then I’d feel really bad. But if I don’t take you to the moon cause Joe says no and you don’t like that, I won’t feel bad.” Zoe answered.

“Ouch.” Kenzie said.

“I care about you two, but Joe’s one of my closest friends. If he thinks it’s a bad idea, I’m going to trust him.” Zoe said.

“He’ll definitely say no.” Kenzie said.

“He might not.” Emma said.

“He definitely will.” Sue said.

Zoe watched as Joe stepped into the edge of her Cosmic Vision and smiled as he opened the door to his inn and walked inside.

“You’re back.” Joe said.

“Yeah. Got some souvenirs, want some space rocks?" Emma tossed a hunk of moon to Joe.

He caught it and narrowed his eyebrows when he did. “Heavier than I expected. Huh.”

“We wanna go to the moon too!” Kenzie said.

Joe looked at Zoe who shrugged and then he sighed. “If Zoe thinks it’s safe and wants to do it, I don’t see why not. Is it safe?"

“Probably.” Zoe said.

“Probably?" Joe asked.

“Well we did find a track. It was old, and whatever left it is probably not there anymore. And whatever left it could probably make it to Abyllan anyway so it’s not like we’re safe here if it is hostile. Which it probably isn’t anyway, cause most things aren’t out to get you. So it’s probably safe.” Zoe answered.

“You found a track on the moon?" Joe asked. ”From what?“

“We don’t know. Didn’t recognize it. Looked like a bear but without the claws and with a big imprint right next to the track, like a cane or some kind of stabilizing bone or something?” Emma said.

Joe shook his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell. How old was it?"

“Three days? Three hundred years? No clue, really.” Zoe said.

Joe nodded and pulled up a chair to sit down with them. “How’d the trip go, anyway?”

Zoe shared the story of their adventure on the moon, with Emma interjecting bits Zoe forgot or decided weren’t important enough.

“You two sure you want to go to the moon?” Joe asked.

“Yeah!" Kenzie and Sue responded in unison.

“It sounds really boring, you know?” Joe asked.

“It’s the moon, Joe. The moon!" Kenzie said.

“Well, give Zoe a few days to settle down at least. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be thrust into that emptiness again so soon.” Joe said.

“Thanks Joe.” Zoe said.

“Don’t mention it.” Joe said.

“What were you talking about with the council today, anyway?" Zoe asked.

Joe took a breath and shook his head. “Just normal stuff, really. Expanding the walls, thinking about the shanty town by the dungeon. We’re trying to plan a proper road to Darpi so we can have trade with them but it’s a bit of a complicated mess. We do our best, though.”

“That’s all anybody could ask of you.” Zoe said.

Joe chuckled. “People ask for a lot more than that, Zoe.”

“To hell with them, then. You all work hard and I think Foizo’s a pretty nice place to be. People feel pretty safe here, they feel comfortable. And that’s because of how it’s being run, I think. Anybody who thinks you’re not doing enough can join you and try to fix it themselves.” Zoe said.

“I appreciate that. Sometimes I feel like we don’t do enough too, though. Or maybe I just don’t see it. Maybe I crave that recognition that I used to get, and being a part of the council makes my own efforts anonymous and people don’t see the work that I personally do.” He waved his hand. “But enough of that. I’m doing well. Life’s good, here. We had another meeting recently and we’ve got a bit more funding so things are working out.”

“That’s good.” Zoe said.

“Yeah you’re starting construction on the north end of town now right?" Emma asked.

Joe nodded. “We’re working on clearing the land for it right now. Lots of trees and roots in the way that need to be removed.”

“I could help out?" Zoe offered.

Joe shook his head. “The work itself doesn’t take a lot, really. It’s the planning. Where the lines get drawn, what buildings are going to be put in. The builders the royals sent don’t want to expand the town any further than absolutely necessary so it’s a lot of back and forth, arguing that we need more land and them telling us how we could put the land we already have to better use. It gets tedious, at times. I see the benefit of being independent like Flester was.

“We could just skip all the paperwork and expand as we wanted. Somebody wants to build a house outside of the walls? We can just push the walls further out to cover them. No big deal. But Flester fell, and they might not have if they had the support of the Injellar kingdom. Or that’s the hope, anyway.” Joe said.

“The pros outweigh the cons, then?" Zoe asked.

“That’s the idea. We deal with some added tedium and we get to be a little safer for it. It has a purpose, and they have a point. A bigger town is harder to defend and might require another royal guard to be stationed here. And that would take away power from the capital. Which if we have enough people and pay enough taxes would be worth it for the additional funding they can get to help pay for even more royal guards, or other services they could use to better the kingdom. It makes sense. It just gets tedious.” Joe said.

Zoe chuckled. “And that is why I don’t get involved in it at all.”

“You’d do terribly anyway.” Emma said.

Joe laughed. “You’d probably say something stupid in front of the king and have us all beheaded.”

“Would he do that?” Zoe asked.

Joe shook his head. “No, he’s really quite nice. Busy man, but he’s kind. He cares a lot about his people.”

“So then there’d be no problem! I could be the leader of Foizo starting immediately.” Zoe grinned.

“Do you wanna be?" Joe asked.

“Not at all.” Zoe laughed.