Joe showed up outside their cave a week later, as they were just putting in the final wooden board for the cats’ room. “Good afternoon you two, renovations going well?” He asked when Zoe and Emma appeared outside next to him.

“Yeah! We’ve got the cats’ room built now. Wanna come see?" Zoe asked.

“Sure, how do I get in?" Joe asked.

“Teleport, for now.” Zoe answered.

“And I think forever.” Emma added.

“Oh?" Joe asked.

“I think we’ll just have a little cat door for the cats to get through, but no way for people to get in there. So the cats have a place they can escape to if visitors come over.” Emma explained.

Joe shrugged. “I don’t imagine you’ll have many visitors who wouldn’t respect not going in a door, anyway.”

“Probably not,” Emma agreed. “But Zoe and I can both teleport anyway so I don’t think it’ll matter much. Anyway, come see, come see!"

Joe smiled and held out his hand. Zoe grabbed it and Cosmic Stepped the two of them into the room they’d finished. Emma followed in a moment after. Joe looked around at the walls covered in small steps for the cats to hop on, and scraped his leather boots along the rough looking wooden floor.

“We’re going to put carpets in.” Zoe said.

“Ah. I was wondering why the floor seemed unfinished.” Joe said.

“Carpets should be ready in another two weeks, but we want to get the cats in here before we get started on the rest of this floor. So we’ll probably start working on the basement after this?" Emma asked.

Zoe nodded. “Probably, yeah. I have no idea what it’s going to look like down there, but it’ll probably just be a big empty space with a forge and some storage.”

“It’ll be strange seeing your home look different after so long. It’s always been the same tiny little home for all these years.” Joe sighed.

“It will be. But it’ll be nice. Some renovations are long overdue, anyway. But what brings you here today? Did you get word back from the council?" Zoe asked.

“I did.” Joe said.

“And?” Zoe asked.

“We’re going to have a meeting with the royal delegation in a month’s time to talk about your plan. Depending on how things go, you’re probably wanted there.” Joe said.

“Really? That fast?" Zoe asked.

“That fast.” Joe said.

“So I guess that means it is possible to make a dungeon from this thing, then.” Zoe said.

Joe shook his head. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. From what I gathered, they’re trying to keep you from making a rash decision that would endanger people, not create a dungeon for us.”

“I wouldn’t do anything stupid like that, Joe.” Zoe said.

“I know that. Emma knows that. The king doesn’t, though.” Joe shrugged. “The rest of the council could hardly be confident of that, really.”

“Then why tell me ahead of time?” Zoe asked. “If I was dangerous, this just makes it seem like it’s definitely an important thing and would make it way more likely that I’d do something stupid before we even get to talk about it.”

Joe smiled. “You’re not actually supposed to know, yet. Don’t tell anybody I told you.”

Emma laughed. “Zoe, terrorist extraordinaire. Freezing cities in her naïve hope of creating a dungeon.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t freeze an entire city.”

“No, just the moon.” Emma said.

“It’s probably not even strong enough to do that, it’s just a really cold rock.” Zoe said.

“Then why are you worried about trying it?” Emma asked.

“I dunno, because it’s the moon? And magic? And maybe I’m just excited about an idea I had and going to do something that’s stupid. That’s what you two are for.” Zoe said.

“Just be patient, Zoe.” Joe said. “We’ll be meeting in a month. Just keep working on your renovations, and it’ll go by in no time.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You wanna help out?" Zoe asked.

“No, I’ve got to get back to the inn soon. You should come visit for lunch sometime though.” Joe said.

“You just don’t wanna get saddled with construction work.” Emma shook her head.

Joe laughed and held out his hand. “Much as I’d love to help you sand down some floors, I really do have to get back to the inn.”

“Alright Joe. I’ll send you back to your inn then.” Zoe grabbed his hand and Cosmic Stepped to a glimpse she saw of the road outside his inn.

“Thanks Zoe.” Joe said. “And really, you should stop by for lunch more often.”

“I’ll try to remember more often, I know I get a little too invested in things sometimes.” Zoe said.

“Yeah and then you disappear for months or years at a time. You were so much easier to handle when the worst problem you had to deal with was whether or not staying in a tent counted as shelter.” Joe laughed.

Zoe laughed. “You were a lot easier to deal with when you weren’t a council member of a city.”

Joe laughed. “Good luck with the renovations. Let me know when you’re done, I’d like to see it.”

“Sure thing, Joe. I’ll see you around then.” Zoe said.

“See you!” Joe said.

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Zoe Cosmic Stepped back to her home and into the cats’ room where Emma was pacing back and forth. “Something wrong?" Zoe asked.

“Just making sure it’s big enough.” Emma said. “What’s next then? The basement?”

Zoe nodded, and the two got back to work planning the stairwell and carving deeper into the earth for the basement. The weeks flew by as they moulded the basement to their shape. A wall erected one day, and torn down the next as they thought of different means of organizing the basement.

In the end, they decided on five rooms for their basement, with almost the same footprint as the ground floor above. A storage room, a forge, an alchemy room, a more general purpose workshop to play with new toys or ideas and learn new skills, and a room for Joe.

The day to pick up the carpets came up, so Zoe and Emma made their way back down to Ingleki with a bit of a pep in their step as they thought about carpeted floors in their home. The elderly man who they’d met last time was there in the front of the shop, walking through the tables and straightening out all of the small bolts of carpet on display.

“Oh hello again, you two.” He said with a creak in his voice. “I have your carpets in the back, are you here to pick them up?"

“We are,” Zoe said. “And glue, you said you had glue for the carpets, right? Do you know how we attach these to the floors, by the way? We don’t really know what we’re doing, to be honest.”

“Oh ho ho,” the man chortled. “It’s a very simple process, really. I’ll walk you through it, come with me, lets get your carpets.”

The man led them to the back room where several storage bags were lined up on one of the counters. “Your carpets are in these, do you have the space to store all of them?” HE asked.

“How many bags?" Emma asked.

“Five. Four and a half.” The man answered.

“Yeah, we can hold that.” Emma said.

“Wonderful, you ladies can take your carpet then. All the carpet in those bags are yours, I’m afraid I don’t have any large storage bags, and too often we need to loan them so people can transport them home, and it’s much less concerning to loan a smaller bag.” The man explained.

“Sure. I can take em if you wanna learn how to glue the carpets down? Just give me your ring, I’m full.” Emma said.

“Sure.” Zoe pulled the ring off her finger and handed it to Emma.

“Lovely, what type of floor do you have in your home now? The floor this carpet will be glued to?" The man asked.

“We have wooden floors. We cleaned it and roughed up the surface a bit, but not sure what the right process is for keeping the carpet stuck to the floor.” Zoe said.

The man nodded. “Well make sure your floors are completely clean. Not with just your cleaning skills, but make sure there’s no sawdust or splinters too. The last thing you want is a bump in your carpet, or a sharp splinter poking your feet.”

Zoe nodded.

“Then you’ll take this glue.” The man pulled out a large jug of a yellowish translucent viscous liquid. “And pour it on your floors. Make sure it’s evenly spread across your floors, and let it sit for thirty minutes. While you’re waiting, you can take this glue.” The man pulled out another large jug of a similar pinkish liquid. “And spread it evenly across the bottom of your carpet.”

Zoe nodded. “Alright. Yellow on the floor, pink on the carpet. Simple enough.”

The man chortled and shook his head. “Yes, yes. You’d be surprised how many get it wrong, though. Once the glue has been spread on your carpet, very careful lay the carpet down onto the floor. You only get one shot, so I would recommend doing some practice runs first with the cheaper carpet. Once its glued down, it’s not going to come back up in one piece.”

“So yellow on the floor, pink on the carpet, give it thirty minutes and then lay it down flat. How long do we wait after that?" Zoe asked.

“It’s good immediately!” The man smiled. “As soon as these glues come in contact, the reaction will only take a few seconds before the carpet is adhered to your floor. So be quick but precise.”

Zoe nodded. “Alright, thanks. That sounds simple enough, albeit a little scary. How much glue would we need for all that carpet?” Zoe pointed her thumb at the endless stream of carpet that flowed out of the bags into the ring Emma was holding. Was it not possible to trade with herself? Would have been easier if they did it via a trade, Zoe assumed. But it was an entertaining sight, anyway.

“I think five jugs of each would be enough for you. We always have it on hand though so if you need more you can come back and get more.” The man said.

“We’ll take five, then. How much will that be?" Zoe asked.

“Two gold, total.” The man said.

Zoe summoned two gold coins and handed them to the man who in turn handed her the ten total jugs, five yellow and five pink.

“Thank you very much for shopping at Ingleki.” The man smiled.

“Thank you very much. We’ll probably be back at some point, I imagine.” Zoe chuckled.

“You two lovely ladies are always welcome here.” The man chortled.

“I got it all!” Emma said as the last of the carpet was stored away in the ring she was holding.

“I could have traded you them, if you asked?” The man said.

“This was fun, though. That was so much carpet. And it’s all so soft, too!” Emma said.

“I’m glad you like it. It’s quite the process to make it, you know?" The man said.

“Do you teach?" Zoe asked.

“Not now, Zoe. We have to finish our home.” Emma groaned.

“Yeah, but after, you know?” Zoe chuckled.

“I don’t, are you interested?" The man asked.

“I would be, yeah.” Zoe answered.

“Well, I guess there would be no harm in teaching a lovely young lady as yourself. It’s quite tedious, you know?” The mana asked.

“I imagine it would be. Seems interesting though, and I love learning new things even if I don’t always use them. I’d appreciate it if it’s not too much to ask. After we finish our renovations, though.” Zoe said.

“I’ll just be here, come say hi whenever you like. Maybe I can hire you as an apprentice.” The man said.

“That would be awesome, yeah. Thanks. I’ll come stop by sometime then.” Zoe said.

“Come on, lets go.” Emma said. “Before you get distracted making carpets for the next ten years.”

“You two have a lovely day now!” The man said.

“You too.” Zoe said.

“Thanks a bunch! I love the carpets.” Emma said as she pulled Zoe out of the store. “Lets go install these carpets and get the cats in their new room already.”

Installing the carpet was much more difficult than the man had made it seem, Zoe and Emma quickly found. They had cut off small bolts from the cheaper carpet to test it, and it took several attempts before they got something that even seemed presentable, let alone good enough to install in an entire room.

Flooding the fake ‘floor’ that Zoe made from some summoned wood was simple enough, but spreading the pinkish liquid on the bottom of the carpet was a nightmare. It was viscous and sticky and clung to everything it touched, making spreading it in an even layer a nightmare. It reminded Zoe in some ways of trying to roll out fresh pasta dough in how much it fought being spread in a thin layer.

And then, after they’d managed to get it spread in an even layer, placing the carpet down on the floor was no simple task. The glue set in moments, leaving almost no room whatsoever for error. They had to lay the carpet down exactly where it was going to go the first time.

After a few dozen attempts with smaller cuts of the carpet, they settled in on a workflow that worked for them. Emma held the extra carpet above with her Cosmos magic while Zoe pressed the carpet down to the floor with a long slab of earth.

In a few hours, both Fennel and Oliver were laying on the cut pile carpet that covered their personalized room, licking their paws and rubbing their faces. The carpet rolled up in a few places, leaving small but noticeable lumps in the carpet. And in some other places the carpets’ edges didn’t quite line up which left awkward spots to fill in with small bits of carpet Zoe cut off from the main roll.

But Zoe and Emma looked at the room with a sense of pride. Their first completed room of the renovations, and the cats even seemed to like it. Fennel had run around jumping on all the platforms that hung from the walls when they first entered, while Oliver ran and laid down in one of the small alcoves that were carved into the walls.