“Hey Joe!” Zoe called out as she entered Joe’s inn.

“Oh, hey Zoe.” Joe called back from behind the bar.

“Who’s that?" A younger man sitting at the bar chatting with Joe asked. Identify showed him as a level one thirty four dark red mage.

“That’s Zoe. An old friend.” Joe answered.

“Who’s that?" Zoe asked as she walked up to the bar.

“Zoe, meet Andrew. Andrew, meet Zoe.” Joe said.

“Hello Andrew, nice to meet you. You a friend of Joe’s or just staying at the inn?" Zoe asked.

“Just staying here for the week.” Andrew said.

“Oh nice. Couldn’t have picked a better inn, in my opinion. What are you in town for?” Zoe asked.

“The dungeon. Inkley’s a bit too raucous for me, so I’ve been staying here instead. Have you been to the dungeon before?” Andrew asked.

“I have, yes.” Zoe said.

“She was the first to clear it, actually.” Joe smiled.

“Hey!” Zoe groaned. “I don’t want everybody knowing that.”

“Everybody does know that, Zoe.” Joe said. “There’s literally a statue of you in the middle of the town.”

“That statue was you?" Andrew asked, looking at Zoe with a curious eye. ”Ohhh, it is. Wow. That’s impressive.“

“See?” Joe said. “Your mask doesn’t really hide you as well as you’d hoped. Plus you were with Emma and Jeffrey. It’s not much of a secret.”

“I just don’t want the attention that comes with it, you know that Joe.” Zoe said.

“I do. But what I’m saying Zoe, is that people already know it was you. And they don’t care as much as you think they will. If you weren’t the first to clear the dungeon, somebody else would have been. Years ago, people at your level were a rare sight. But it’s been a long time since then, and you’re not so unique anymore.” Joe said.

“I guess.” Zoe said, eyeing Andrew next to her through her Cosmic Vision. He’d already turned away back to the cup of tea sitting in front of him, watching the bubbles float around on the surface of the light brown drink.

“I think it’s cool.” Andrew said.

“See?" Zoe said.

“But he’s right, you know? I don’t want to overstep but in my opinion it’s not the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen lots of statues in my life, and I hardly remember the people they were made of. The statue, I’ll remember. But you?” Andrew shrugged.

“I’ll probably forget you, if I’m being honest. But it is cool, must have been exciting being the first to see the boss?” Andrew asked.

“It was pretty exciting.” Zoe chuckled. "I think it was more exciting for the others, though. I kinda just thought it was a normal dungeon at the time and didn’t get all that invested in being the first one to run it.“

“Do you not do research on dungeons before you run them?” Andrew asked.

“Not usually. I don’t often find dungeons that other people have seen before, anyway.” Zoe said.

“Or do you just not think other people have seen them before because you don’t bother doing your research after you find them?" Joe asked.

“Well… Okay that’s probably fair. People have definitely been to the Springs, and Kliggig. And Moaning Point. And the dungeons in Korna. Fine. I concede. I just don’t do my research usually.” Zoe laughed.

Andrew laughed. “Then I guess being the first to clear a dungeon wouldn’t be all that exciting. I’m not sure I would have done it. I always like to know what I’m getting into first.”

Joe pointed above Zoe’s head. “That’s probably why she’s so much higher level than you.”

“And probably why I’m still alive, too.” Andrew said.

Joe nodded. “Probably.”

“Well, I was just gonna be on my way anyway so I’ll get out of your way.” Andrew sipped the last remnants of his tea and groaned as he stood up from the wooden stool.

“Best of luck!” Joe said.

“You going to the dungeon today?" Zoe asked.

Andrew chuckled. “No, today is the library.”

Zoe smiled. “Well, good luck on your research then.”

“Thanks.” Andrew waved as he left.

“So.” Joe leaned on the bar when the tavern was emptied. “What brings you here today?"

“Okay, well a lot happened, actually.” Zoe explained her adventure to Korna and the Springs of Gir.

“And so you want to turn the moon into a dungeon? What makes you think that it’ll even work?" Joe asked.

“I don’t want to turn the moon into a dungeon. I mean I do. If I could be the leader of it without having to always be stuck there. That sounds kinda fun, actually. But that’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking if next time you go to one of your meetings, if you could bring up the idea of it. I already have the rock, I can do the enchanting.

“I just don’t have the knowledge. I don’t know how to do it or if it would work, or if it would be insanely stupid to do. But if we can make another dungeon here in Foizo, especially a lower level one, then I think that would be a really good boon for us.” Zoe said.

“It would be.” Joe sighed. “I’ll bring it up at the next meeting, but I suspect they’ll want to see you personally.”

“I’d have to meet the king?" Zoe said.

Joe nodded. “If. IF. It’s something that can be done. If they’re really capable of making dungeons on demand like that, then I think you will. But that’s only if it can be done, which we don’t even know, anyway.”

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“Do I really have to? I’m scared of meeting the king. That sounds scary.” Zoe said.

“If we’re going to be using something of yours to make a dungeon, then yes. You’ll have to meet the king. Think about it from his perspective, Zoe. Assuming that we can make a dungeon, then it’s clearly a very big and well kept secret. If we take your rock and then some amount of time later a cold dungeon appears in Foizo then that’s as good as confirmation, and you would never have been vetted for that.” Joe said.

“So the king will want to meet me to make sure I can be trusted?" Zoe asked.

“Not only just trusted, but they might even want to guarantee you don’t spread the information through some magical means, depending on how important the secret is to keep.” Joe said.

“Like with mental magic? Making me forget about it? I can’t accept that.” Zoe said.

Joe shrugged. “Who knows. That’s all assuming that the kingdom even knows how to make a dungeon, and that it involves your rock, and that the kingdom would even want to do that here in our city, with your rock. Which is a lot of assumptions, Zoe.”

“Okay, but if it is mental magic, I’m not doing that. I’ll just have to figure something out on my own.” Zoe said.

“That’s fine, you won’t be forced into anything.” Joe said. “But they won’t confirm or deny anything until they’ve at the very least vetted you.”

“So what? I just wait until I get summoned then?” Zoe asked.

Joe nodded. “Yup. The council meets next week and I’ll bring it up with them then. Depending on how they feel, we may see if we can fast track meeting with the king’s delegation. But if we can’t, then it’ll be a few months before we can bring this issue up with them. And then from there, we’ll know where or not we can bring you to a meeting. Which, again, depending on how things go could be pretty soon after that or could be several more months.”

“So basically I’m waiting for like a year, then.” Zoe said.

Joe chuckled. “Waiting is what you do best, isn’t it?”

“Not at all. Distracted is what I do best.” Zoe said.

“Find something to distract yourself with. Andrew’s a nice enough fellow, maybe go join him in the library and take him through Flester’s Might. That sounds like something you’d do on a whim.” Joe laughed.

“It does, but I’m not going to. I’m gonna work on the home a bit, I think. The wooden floors were strong enough to put up with the cats claws, but they’ve been looking pretty banged up since I made those toys from moon rocks. Plus I’d like to make the entrance a little nicer, too.” Zoe said.

“Emma going to be alright with all that?" Joe asked.

“I think so. We’ve talked a bit about it before. Not seriously, but she seems interested in making some improvements. She’ll probably have a whole list for me to get to if I bring it up seriously, too.” Zoe said.

“Probably.” Joe agreed.

“How have you been though? Anything exciting happening to you?" Zoe asked.

Joe shook his head. “Nothing exciting. Same old life for me. We’ve got some more buildings up in the next expansion in Foizo which has helped a lot. Lots of new people here in town, and housing everybody has been challenging. But people seem happy, from what I can see. What’s the vibe you get?”

“Good. You’re right, people are happy here. There’s always an undercurrent of anxiety, but you’re doing good. People like it here. It’s a nice city to walk through.” Zoe said.

“Good, I’m glad. I wish I had a skill like yours, sometimes. It would sure make me feel better getting to walk through the town and feel everybody’s happiness.” Joe said.

“It does. Until people aren’t happy, and then it really, really sucks.” Zoe said.

“But you can turn it off right?" Joe asked.

“You can. But you don’t know when you’re going to get hit with one of the deepest pits of despair you’ve ever felt because you happened to wander into a depressed corner of town. Some days you walk through a street and everybody’s happy. If you want to feel people being happy, you take on the risk of sometimes feeling people who are very, very unhappy.” Zoe said.

Joe nodded. “I’m sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine. But I don’t think you’d like it. You wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from trying to help everybody you came by. Every little tingle of anxiety, every twinge of fear or loneliness. People are happy, Joe. But everybody has their problems, and that seeps through into everything they do.” Zoe said.

“I hadn’t thought of that. Well, I’ll just stick to asking you for updates then.” Joe said.

Zoe smiled.

“Things have been good though. Peter and Lauren have a party coming up in a month for Sally’s birthday. They asked me to let you know whenever you’re around. Sally would love to have you there.” Joe said.

“Oh that’s nice. How old is she going to be?” Zoe asked.

“I believe she’s turning nine.” Joe said.

“Oh wow, nine already. What did she end up taking for her first class?" Zoe asked.

“Nothing, apparently. Still level eight last I saw her.” Joe said.

“Huh. That’s surprising. Are they trying to get her Patient Decider?” Zoe asked.

“I don’t think so. I think they’re just waiting till she’s older and can make her own decision when she’s more mature.” Joe said.

“That makes sense. It’s honestly kinda messed up that the system makes us make such an important decision so early on in our lives like that.” Zoe said.

“I didn’t think it was before I met you. But now? It almost feels like the system’s trying to work against us at times.” Joe said.

“I don’t think it’s trying to work against us, it just rewards us for stuff. I think that if I waited another few thousand years I would have got even more feats for waiting before I took my first class. The grass is always greener, right?” Zoe said.

“That it is.” Joe said.

“Well, I’m gonna go get started on renovations at home then. Kinda excited to finally get to that. I’ve wanted to for I don’t even know how long. Ten years? Fifteen? It’s been so long. Do you know anybody with any light skills, by the way? I’d love to get a light skill for my enchantments.” Zoe said.

“Andrew’s a light mage, apparently.” Joe said.

“Really?" Zoe asked.

“Apparently. That’s what he was saying, anyway.” Joe said.

“Huh. Next time you see him let him know I wanna see him then. If I can make an underground garden with artificial light, that would be absolutely amazing.” Zoe said.

“You sure like being underground, huh?" Joe asked.

“I find it easier to carve out a home than to build up a home, I guess.” Zoe said. “Have you thought about expanding Foizo down? I imagine there would be quite a few people happy with living underground. If I can get the light skill off of Andrew then I’d be up for making a bunch of lights for you to have down there, too.”

“We have thought of it, but at least so far we’ve decided expanding outwards is better. I think we’ll get to the point where we need to go vertically soon, though. It’s getting harder and harder to justify our expansions to the kingdom so if we could just build taller buildings or find some way to build homes underground then we could fit a lot more people in here.

“But at least right now, I think our main goal is to try and build up Inkley so there’s less strain on Foizo. At the moment a lot of the higher level people come back to Foizo for a while, but if they could stay in Inkley we’d have a lot more space for the permanent residents who want to settle down here.” Joe said.

“But having all of those people here does give you something of a standing army if we get attacked by another fire elemental or something. I feel like it gives people a lot of comfort when they’re walking around and seeing all of the high level people.” Zoe said.

Joe scratched his head. “That’s one thing we’re worried about, but we would still have the royal guards here and Inkley is not far away if we have a catastrophe.”

“Well, you’re the expert. All I know is that people like seeing the high levels walking through town.” Zoe said.

Joe nodded. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind then. Thanks, Zoe.”

“No problem.” Zoe smiled.

“Good luck with the renovations. I’ll come visit you two soon and see how they’re going.” Joe said.

“Thanks. Maybe we’ll build you a room, too.” Zoe laughed.

“A little home away from home, huh? That doesn’t sound so bad.” Joe chuckled.