Chapter 149

K'tharkle, Day 41 - Sunday

Jay woke up to the sound of birds and smiled without opening his eyes. He had slept well if not as long as he would have liked. It was hard to sleep through birdsong when it was right outside the bedroom's window. He stretched under the clean sheets and let out a 'I don't want to get out of bed' groan which turned in to a sigh.

He got up and took out his dungeon completion patch from his backpack. He tilted it in his hands and the diamond inset in its surface glittered a rainbow of colors as an animated beam of light rotated across the surface of the patch. Jay walked it over to a side table where he had set his patches out and added it to his collection.

His stomach rumbled and he frowned. He was hungry. Not a surprise considering how much exercise he had gotten the day before along with how little he had eaten. He really needed to make sure they brought food next time.

Rummaging about in his backpack he removed his Landlocked Lighthouse Armor Set Display Case and set the small vertical case on his dresser. It would be safe here and this way it wouldn't take up valuable space in his backpack.

He turned and got dressed as he picked up items one at a time. Underwear, simple light clothing, leather armor, a vest festooned with pouches, a belt laden with pouches, and some very comfortable boots. He hooked his expandable staff to his backpack and slung it over one shoulder.

He remembered to check his titles to make sure he hadn't left one on. His titles list appeared as he brought up his status screen and with a little bit of work managed to minimize it so that only his titles showed.

Available Titles:

Prophet of Gaia

Exterminator

The Masked One

Pan-dimensional Librarian

Gaia's Artisan

Golden Acumen

Dawnbringer

Lighthouse Keeper

Current Title: not set

Do you wish to set a title? Yes|No

Jay grinned at the long list of titles. He didn't need the list of what each did at the moment, he just wanted to see how many he had collected so far. The list had grown quite a bit since his first day in Eden. Seeing that he did not have a title currently set he closed the list and opened a pouch on his chest where he had Minerva's Patch stored. It was still there. He'd get to use it soon thankfully.

Jay wanted to get rid of the artifact before anyone did something stupid around it – like try and take it from him. The consequences described so far were vague but extremely worrisome. He'd rather avoid that kind of situation entirely. In Jay's opinion the sooner he used the patch the better things would be for everyone involved.

A knock at the door came just as Jay prepared to leave his bedroom.

“I'm coming! I'm surprised you're so late, I thought you would have been here by now!” Jay yelled to the awaiting Aiden.

Jay walked through his front room and opened the door to find a worried looking acolyte from the Church of Gaia. The man was young both in age as well as standing in the Church. His main duties were primarily focused on the duties no one else wanted to do. He was a helper, a servant, in training to become a full Brother one day.

If he were in a biker gang or a fraternity they would refer to the man as a pledge. Instead, he was in a religion, and so he was called an acolyte.

Jay's greeting had the acolyte a bit frightened. He had been told that he was to escort a very important person back to Kagan's Dome – Jay. He'd been told to pick him up early, and was now worried that he hadn't been early enough. Worse – Jay sounded a bit cross with him.

The man's forehead began to perspire as he stammered out an apology, “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to keep you waiting!” The acolyte expected that he would be spoken to over his lack of attention to detail. He hated being 'spoken to' as it invariably led to some form of punishment.

Jay shook his head with a smile at the misunderstanding which just terrified the young man further. Finally Jay managed to get out his words and try and remedy the situation. “Sorry! I thought you were someone else! My friend usually meets me in the mornings!”

The acolyte let out a heavy breath in relief. He would not be 'spoken to' after all. At least not for that. The day was still young after all.

“Your other friends are also being met by acolytes. We're to escort all of you to your carriage which will then deliver you to Kagan's Dome to meet with Brother Orin,” the young man explained as simple and succinctly as possible.

Jay's belly grumbled again. If Jay was hungry then Aiden must be starving he thought to himself.

“I don't mean to be rude, but will there be breakfast? I haven't had a meal since before running a dungeon yesterday.” Jay asked as he rubbed his belly, or at least he rubbed his armor over his belly.

The acolyte nodded smiled, “I am sure that Brother Orin has made preparations in advance of your arrival.”

Jay thought the acolyte was speaking a little bit too formally but then gave a mental shrug – who knew what was normal here?

“Ok, I'm ready to head out – I'm really sorry about the mix-up. I had no idea you had even been sent to pick me up so no worries.” Jay insisted.

The acolyte smiled and the two left his front room. Jay closed and made sure his door was locked before he followed along behind the young man.

The walk was enjoyable and the temperature was warm and relaxing. The sky was a robin's-egg blue and cloudless and the air smelled like freshly turned earth. A bee buzzed up to one of Jay's many pouches and landed on it. Jay continued to walk but was unsure of what to do. He wasn't a fan of stinging insects. It wasn't the insect part that bothered him so much as the stinging part.

The honeybee wasn't much of a stinging insect though – it was more like the golden retriever of the bee world. It loved collecting pollen and not much else. It had no interest in humans and would do just about anything it could to avoid having to sting one.

Honeybees were good boys. It inspected the pouch and found it disappointingly devoid of pollen. Its wings fluttered for a brief moment before the bee took to flight once again in search of flowers.

Jay smiled. They had arrived. The acolyte waved him over to an awaiting carriage and helped him step up and inside. The acolyte didn't follow him inside. It seemed that the carriage was for the VIPs only.

Jay found the inside to be richly appointed with fabric lining the walls and ceiling. The normal benches had been replaced with expensive and comfortable looking pillowed sitting couches. Jay took the only open bench as the opposite side already held Aiden, Norri, and Carly.

“What, no one wanted to sit alone?” Jay asked with a grin as he got himself comfortable. Before anyone could answer a loud growl emanated from Aiden's stomach. Aiden clutched his armor over his stomach. Everyone was in full gear. “I'm starving,” Aiden complained.

“They'll feed us there I'm sure. They of all people know where we were all day yesterday,” Jay insisted with an encouraging smile.

Carly returned to his original question, “We thought it'd be nice to leave one side for you and M'redith.” She said it without even a hint of teasing or malice and Jay was a little surprised before he shook it off.

Jay wasn't sure what to say. It was a kind if unnecessary gesture. “Thanks guys, that's thoughtful of you.”

Before they could talk any more about that topic the cabin of the carriage swayed a bit as a new form blocked the opening to the courtyard.

“You made it!” Norri said excitedly.

M'redith laughed. “What? Did you really think I wasn't going to? How'd everyone sleep?”

Everyone had slept just fine which was nice. It didn't always work out that way.

The door was shut from outside and a short moment later the carriage pulled forward and in to city traffic as it left the Guild's main courtyard and entered the city proper.

The carriage door wasn't a solid slab. It had a window which they could look out of. Various brightly colored shops and signs passed by along with a throng of people of all sorts.

As the carriage wound its way through the city the group split off in to smaller sub groups with separate conversations. Norri, Aiden, and Carly were talking about the best way to cross a balance beam and Jay took the opportunity to quietly explain to M'redith that they had been specifically given a bench to themselves – and that Carly had informed him of the fact in a clearly worded manner.

Carly could have taken the open side as a way of needling M'redith. It's what the old Carly would have done, a small offensive gesture, just a small party of a slow death by a thousand tiny cuts, each a social faux pas too minor to mention..

M'redith didn't say anything but turned her head to look at Carly thoughtfully. They were all lightly jostled as they hit an uneven spot in the road and M'redith was tossed up against Jay. It broke her concentration and she smiled as they sorted themselves out.

The carriage came to a stop and Jay and M'redith waited patiently for the doors to open as the others continued to discuss balance beams until the doors swung open and aside. On her side of the carriage Carly was closest to the door but made no move to exit. She waited for M'redith and Jay to go first.

It was one of those little polite social behaviors that was expected of others but often ignored in order to needle the other person. They were on an official trip to meet with the people who had hired their group – of which M'redith was in charge. It was simple good manners to allow her to exit first. Moreover, it was expected of her to do so. It was also a very simple way of needling M'redith should Carly have decided to exit first anyway.

It was such a small thing that it would be socially awkward, an overreaction, for M'redith to bring it up, but it was just enough for others to notice the slight. Too petty to acknowledge, too calculated to ignore.

Carly had been a master at using those small slights to attack others, especially M'redith, who had expected Carly to return to her old habits once they were out of the dungeon. However, Carly appeared to have grown a bit it seemed.

When it was clear that Carly was not going to exit until M'redith had done so M'redith finally climbed out of the carriage, assisted by another acolyte. Jay exited next and only then did Carly make a move to exit.

Jay hadn't been born on Eden and knew nothing about the tiny social niceties that were often required but never explained. Who exited a carriage first definitely fell in to that category and so it was no surprise that Jay missed the byplay entirely.

M'redith, however, had noticed and was pleasantly surprised at Carly's change in behavior.

Jay's attention was taken up by the building in front of him. Three stories made up of interlocking stone plates, the entire thing appeared as if it had been carved out of one solid piece of stone. Impossible, Jay thought to himself, yet there it stood, a veritable fortress.

The only entrance he could see was flanked by two Church Guards positioned so that there would be no question that entry was denied by default. They stepped aside as an acolyte led M'redith's group inside and in to a spacious waiting area. A desk at the front of the room divided it in to the entry area, and the space behind the desk.

The space behind the desk was double the size of the entry area and was festooned with desks and chairs all at various angles. It was clear that they would normally be lined up but had recently seen some active use.

“Almost there,” insisted the acolyte as they were led through a side door that Jay again had almost missed entirely. It fit in to the surrounding stone smoothly, itself a slab of stone. They were led to another door, thick and banded with metal. Posted up to the sides of the door stood two Church Guards, at attention. They said nothing and did not acknowledge the group as they passed.

They walked down a number of stairwells before the acolyte arrived at a hallway that looked older than the surrounding stone. Through the hallway they walked until they reached a room with a giant dome of a ceiling. The center of the room was dominated by a giant pylon in the center, four feet across.

They hadn't known what the pylon was for when they had first passed through the room, but now that the group had activated them everyone but Carly knew they were prize terminals, used to purchase your rewards after earning points in Kagan's Dome.

On the other side of the room stood the entrance to the dungeon proper, Kagan's Dome. What they had been walking through up until that point was the temple the Church had built upon it. The open dungeon doorway was a deep black devoid of motion or light and on either side of the dungeon door stood Brother Orin and Walter.

The acolyte left the group without comment but Brother Orin gave them a smile in thanks before turning his attention on the group of adventurers.

“Good to see you all again. Thanks for making it.” Brother Orin said. He tried to sound cheerful but his anxiety was on display for everyone to see. Jay gave him points for making the effort though.

M'redith shook his hand and then Walter's who bid the group good morning.

Brother Orin followed up by shaking Jay's hand as well but not the others. Walter frowned as he noticed the slight but didn't comment. It could have been inadvertent due to the monk's nervousness or excitement.

Walter made a show of shaking everyone's hands and had just finished with Carly when Brother Orin finally picked up on the hint and slapped his forehead and some of his completely bald head.

“I'm sorry! So forgetful. Welcome!” Brother Orin said kindly as he shook Norri's, Aiden's, and then Carly's hand.

Carly was not used to constantly being acknowledged last and certainly was not enjoying it. Still, she kept quiet. She was the guest in the group, not a feeling she was in any way used to.

“It's ok.” Carly finally said as the Brother apologized once more. He seemed like he was about to burst he looked so nervous.

Walter took over at that point which was for the best as Brother Orin looked more and more nervous the longer they stood there.

Jay couldn't figure it out. It was over, wasn't it? They'd already done the hard part, the part to be nervous about, they'd braved a dungeon and created and returned with an actual Artifact. Why was the monk becoming more anxious while the group stood and waited for directions? Jay felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he had missed something, probably something political.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Jay hated politics – for no other reason than that he was bad at it.

“You may be wondering why we are the only ones here. Suffice it to say that we thought the less people present the faster we get this done and the easier this entire thing will be.” Walter explained.

M'redith made a derisive noise in the back of her throat but didn't say anything. Walter pointedly didn't look at her.

Carly's face was scrunched up in thought as Walter continued to speak and it appeared as if she had begun to work something out as well. Whatever it was she kept it to herself.

“No need to wait. No one else is coming, it's just us.” Walter said and waved Jay towards the portal.

Jay paused, “Is it empty? I have no idea what would happen to any people inside when the patch begins to work.”

Walter looked panicked for a brief moment before Brother Orin shook his head. Whatever was worrying him it had nothing to do with anyone still being inside.

Jay nodded, “Ok, then, I guess here we go,” he said. He felt a bit disappointed. He didn't know what he had been expecting. Maybe a breakfast and then a ceremony with some high ranking church members. A thank you? Instead it felt almost like they were sneaking around.

They were sneaking around a bit he admitted to himself. It was better that way when handling an Artifact, for everyone's safety.

Jay looked over at M'redith with a questioning look and she gave him a tiny nod and a tight smile. Whatever was going on she'd tell him about it later it seemed.

Jay gave a quick shrug. He trusted M'redith, and she seemed to know politics, so if she gave him the go-ahead then he was going to trust her.

He took out the tiny patch of fabric and let it rest flat in one hand. That was when Jay realized what was bothering him. Unbeknownst to him he had arrived at an incomplete conclusion due to not being very politically experienced. His idea however would work anyway.

Minerva's Instanced Infinity Patch – ARTIFACT – This item is an artifact!! - This item is irrevocably bound to Jay!

Artifacts may not be damaged or destroyed. They may not be taken or removed from the owner. Any attempted transfer of ownership of an artifact is monitored by the System. Any attempt to force the bound owner to abandon or transfer ownership of an artifact will trigger severe repercussions for the offending party.

This patch will enlarge upon activation and will completely cover the entrance to a dungeon. Once used the dungeon will be unavailable for 24 hours, after which the dungeon will become instanced. Any number of groups may then run the dungeon at the same time. Each group will be put in to their own separate instance of the dungeon. Monsters will no longer be able to exit the dungeon.

From that point forward all users must pay a single silver coin in order to gain entrance. The coin is magically removed from the user's belongings and transferred to the bound user's possession once a user passes over the threshold of the dungeon. Should a user not have a silver coin they will find themselves physically barred from entry to the dungeon. This fee may not be altered by outside means.

Jay read the entire thing out loud which began to annoy Walter as he hadn't asked him to do so. Brother Orin looked as if he just wanted Jay to get on with it.

“Brother Orin, do you, as a representative of the Church of Gaia, give me permission to apply this patch to the Church managed dungeon Kagan's Dome and agree to the terms set out in the patch's description exactly as written?” Jay spoke slowly as if he was feeling his way through the sentence one word at a time.

M'redith listened to Jay as a satisfied smile slowly grew on her face. Maybe Jay wasn't completely inept at politics after all, she thought to herself.

Walter began to look worried. He had seemed pretty confident up until that point. He was about to say something but Brother Orin beat him to it.

“I do! Go ahead and do it already!” Brother Orin pleaded in an effort to get Jay to hurry. He appeared as if he would have agreed to anything at that moment.

M'redith smiled and said, “Witnessed.”

Walter's expression darkened inexplicably from Jay's point of view. M'redith knew exactly what had just happened however.

Jay had just gotten Brother Orin to claim he was acting as an agent of the Church, that he gave Jay explicit permission to apply the patch to Kagan's Dome specifically, and that he agreed to the terms in the item's description.

Jay didn't wait any longer but instead reached out in an attempt to place the patch over the center of the black nothingness that made up the dungeon entrance. Oddly enough he found that his hand while holding the patch would interact with the entrance as if it were a solid surface. Normally he would have passed right through and entered the dungeon. This was different.

The patch hung on the 'surface' of the dungeon entrance before Jay was presented with a notification.

Do you wish to apply Minerva's Instanced Infinity Patch to Kagan's Dome? Selecting yes will permanently apply the Patch and forever link you to this dungeon. This action may not be undone.

Apply Patch? Yes|No

Jay shrugged. Being linked forever to the dungeon didn't worry him as all that did was make him money as far as he knew. Jay smiled and selected yes. The patch began to rapidly unwrap and as it did so it covered more and more of the entrance's 'surface' until the entire entrance was covered in the silvery surface of the patch which glittered brightly. Jay reached out and touched the patch. It had no give to it and it felt like pressing his fingers up against stone.

He inspected the patch but instead of the Patch's description all he received was a short notification.

23:58

“Ok. It's done. This time tomorrow it should be ready.” Jay said as he stepped away from the dungeon entrance.

Brother Orin looked both relieved and now even more worried. Walter looked relieved as well but more frustrated than worried.

“Good work, all of you. For tomorrow be ready at the same time to be picked up but be well dressed. Suit or dress. There wasn't anyone else here today but tomorrow will be an entirely different story.” Walter said with a sigh.

“I'll have an acolyte bring you back and drop you off wherever you'd like to go, I'll see all of you tomorrow.” Brother Orin said almost absentmindedly as he waved at the group before turning to hold a quiet but frantic conversation with Walter.

They had been dismissed it seemed. Sure enough shortly after an acolyte arrived and guided them back upstairs and out of the temple. They arrived back at the carriage where they were helped to step up and in to before they were asked for their preferred destination.

Aiden answered and held a hushed conversation with the acolyte before he figured out where he wanted to be taken. Carly spoke with the acolyte for a moment as well. Afterwards the doors were shut and the cabin went quiet.

Jay went to speak but M'redith shook her head. They rode out the journey in silence as everyone held their thoughts to themselves.

Carly smiled, “I'd love to join you all but I need to get back to the Guild, things to do. I'll see all of you tomorrow.” she said in parting as the carriage dropped her off at the Guild's main courtyard before pulling back in to traffic.

Jay raised an eyebrow, was it time to talk now? He looked at M'redith and she shook her head.

Jay sighed and decided to lean up against her instead. She held his hand and looked out the window.

The carriage came to a stop and they all climbed out. Aiden gave the acolyte a coin which he took with a wide smile and a wave. Once the carriage pulled away Aiden led the group across the street and behind another building.

They arrived at a run down looking building surrounded by a too tall to see over wooden fence that looked as if it had seen better days. Aiden led them in to the house without knocking on the door and the others followed him in.

Inside was a completely different building. The floor was a polished black wood, the walls painted a cream white.

“How many?” asked an older woman wearing a wrap around dress that approached them with a kind smile.

“Four,” Aiden answered shortly. He was starving.

They were led through the house and out a back door in to a green oasis. Plants surrounded a sturdy looking round table and a trickling stream bubbled past the eating area. It made just enough noise to be relaxing without becoming annoying.

The woman left them and they all took a seat.

“What do they serve here?” Norri asked curiously. She hated not knowing something.

Aiden grinned. “Muffins.”

M'redith looked like she was going to laugh. “MUFFINS? Isn't this a bit high-class for a simple muffin?”

Aiden just smiled. “You'll see.”

They sat and Jay again looked at M'redith and raised an eyebrow. She shook her head. “Soon.”

Finally after waiting for what felt like forever the woman returned with a wide silver tray which held five covered plates. She placed one in front of each of them before placing the fifth in the middle of the table.

Another woman approached with a smaller tray and handed everyone glasses of orange juice.

The two women gave the group a smile before they left them to themselves.

Aiden lifted the lid of his tray and set it aside. He revealed two halves of a blueberry muffin, some silverware, and a cloth napkin.

The muffin appeared incredibly soft and was steaming hot. Blueberries dotted the muffin, some of the juice coloring the surrounding area blue. The top of each was coated in fat granules of sugar. The center tray in the middle of the table held a wide dish of pre-warmed butter.

Aiden grinned, “Sugar muffins. The muffin is soft and airy and the butter practically melts right on to it. These are more than 'just a muffin' – you'll see.”

Aiden dug in and made moaning noises as he took two big bites out of one half of his muffin, eating almost the entire thing in two bites. He chewed and sighed loudly before swallowing in contentment. “I've missed food.”

Norri laughed and that was the moment that broke the quiet. Everyone ate their muffins happily.

“Ok, I was a jerk. These muffins are amazing,” M'redith admitted before wiping her face with a napkin. She turned to jay and pointed at him.

“Now? Oh good! What the hell?” Jay asked after she pointed at him.

M'redith laughed. “Ok, well, first off, great job with what you got Brother Orin to say. That will protect us quite a bit from what is coming.”

“Wait, what is coming?” Norri looked up and asked.

“The Church, for one. Let me explain,” M'redith said as she waved her hands in front of her as the others went to ask her questions.

“So we had a patch. A practically unique artifact. It lets us upgrade one dungeon. ONE dungeon. Any guesses as to how that could turn in to a problem for us?” she asked the group, not unkindly. She just wanted to give others a chance to join in as well.

Jay shook his head, “I don't see what the problem is. We were hired to get it and we got it.”

M'redith nodded. “Ok. Well then can you tell me a little bit about why you had Brother Orin agree to your formal request to install the patch?”

Jay grinned, “I thought that if something went wrong it could be blamed on us, or me. He could say he didn't know about the silver entry fee for example. I just realized that we hadn't really given ourselves any protection so I had him state exactly what he wanted me to do. I just wanted to set it up so that he couldn't claim later that we didn't fully explain what would happen.”

M'redith chuckled. “Well you got it sort of right. It was a great idea! I'm proud of you for thinking of it.” she said with a smile. “Here's the thing – there is no way that the Church knows about what Brother Orin is doing here, I can guarantee it.”

“How can you be so sure about that?” Aiden asked as he took a drink of orange juice.

“Because there is no way the people in charge at the Church would have let him use the Patch on his own dungeon. They each would have tried to force it to be used on a dungeon under their own area of control. Think about it.” M'redith answered.

Jay didn't have to think about it, he knew that she was right the moment the words left her lips. People in power don't just let an artifact slip through their fingers like that. “They're going to be furious,” Jay said as he pictured how the conversation between Brother Orin and his boss would probably go.

M'redith nodded, “And its a lot easier to pin the blame on a brand new adventuring party not even out of training yet. Sure, we were the only group that could do the job, but I absolutely believe that we were going to be blamed in some way. They wouldn't say we did anything maliciously, just that we were inexperienced and didn't relate all of the info about the patch. Or we misunderstood and applied the patch without Brother Orin asking us to. But now that Jay had Brother Orin openly state exactly what he wanted Jay to do Jay is completely covered. He only did what Brother Orin asked him to do.”

Aiden nodded, “And Jay made him admit that he knew all of the terms beforehand. So that can't be blamed on us either.”

Jay tilted his head, “Can't he just lie about it?”

All of the others laughed at him. “He could bend the truth quite a lot, but would you swear on the Goddess that a lie was true?”

Jay paused. He had a special relationship with the Goddess of Creation, Gaia. “Absolutely not.”

“The high priests can tell if you lie. It's a special Class Ability. It makes political maneuvering extremely difficult for them, but the high priests still manage it somehow. Trust me, we do not want to get involved in a political spat with the Church. They make regular politics look like infants arguing.” M'redith stressed as she waved her hands about in emphasis.

“Is that all?” Norri asked and M'redith sighed in answer.

“No. I bet Walter had a hand in this – because who is going to run through Kagan's Dome? Adventurers. Guild adventuring groups. How many adventurers do you think show up right now every day for Kagan's Dome?” M'redith explained before shifting to her question.

Jay shrugged, “I don't know. They can only run the dungeon once a day so... five?”

M'redith nodded. “Right. Five people. Not a lot. You don't need much to support that amount. Their needs can be absorbed by the current city's infrastructure. Once that patch finishes though that number is going to become unlimited. And that is a number that will need more infrastructure. Everything the Guild does here will be expanded to provide for the incoming influx of adventurers.”

Norri frowned, “So the Guild makes out with a bigger budget? That doesn't sound so bad.”

M'redith nodded, “Exactly! It's not! But all of those adventurers are going to have to come from somewhere. Somewhere that depends on their business. They'll all be coming here. That is going to make a lot of people very angry as it will end up costing some people money. It will also make some people a lot of money. Most likely Walter.”

Jay shook his head, “I can run a dungeon no problem but the rest of this sounds like a real mess.”

M'redith laughed, “We'll be ok. You did good in making sure that we were covered even if you didn't entirely understand what we'd need coverage for.”

“Good work Jay!” Norri said brightly and for a moment Jay felt like he was back in kindergarten and being praised for a crayon drawing. Jay smiled in thanks.

“Anything else?” Aiden asked.

“I don't think you guys understand what is about to happen. Right now an adventurer can make an appointment to run Kagan's Dome – once, if they're lucky. Now though...” M'redith drew another breath.

“There is no other dungeon quite like this one – making it instanced will make it one of the most sought after dungeons around. People will run the dungeon every day of the week, seven days in a row. Adventurers will be flush with items bought with their reward points from running the dungeon. They'll sell some of what they get and make a ton of money. They'll buy homes, buildings, places to make their own. K'tharkle is about to see a period of growth, and it will have to expand.” M'redith finally drew quiet and wiped off a bit of muffin at the corner of her lips.

Aiden frowned uncertainly, “It's that big of a deal?”

“Just watch. You'll see come tomorrow. I bet everyone who is anyone will be there when we go back to activate the portal.” M'redith said with a shake of her head.

The two women from earlier must have detected the lull in conversation and they returned with a second serving of muffins for the group. They cleared the table first and then placed the muffins in front of each of them.

Aiden's stomach growled.

“Goddess, you're already eating! What more does your stomach want from you?” Norri asked while laughing.

Aiden shrugged, “More muffins apparently.”

With a grin he slathered butter on it before he stuffed some of his second muffin that morning in to his mouth and chewed happily.