Dusk considered it for longer than I expected, taking the decision more seriously than usual. Finally, she let out a long, complex streamlike sound, saying she wanted us to go in, but she also wanted to catch up to us, and that she was afraid if she didn’t eat it, she wouldn’t be able to.

“That’s fine,” I said, and it was. Whatever was in there seemed to be fairly violent and unpleasant, and though that probably meant great ability to advance via pills handed out before a fight, it also meant having to fight.

That brought on another thought, though. I glanced at Meadow.

“If she consumes the time catch, she’s not going to turn into some sort of war or battle asomatous, is she?”

“Not unless she wants to,” Meadow said, shaking her head. “It may influence you and Dusk, but it won’t turn you into a violent war spirit.”

I looked at Dusk, and nodded. She opened her mouth, and power began to stream into her. As her mana-garden grew full, then overflowing, she closed her tiny eyes. Her complex mixture of power swirled and flexed, and she drained from my first gate as well.

Then that part of it was over as she blasted through to second gate, and her new power rose up around us.

The flow of the time catch intensified, its own strange mana shuddering and breaking down. For an instant, I saw what looked like ghosts of peasants, followed by traditional knights, then for just a moment, the burning image of skeletal warriors led by a general that burned with violet flame.

Inside of my soul, I got a sense of what Dusk was doing, and how she was processing the power, sieving it like I would flour. She shuddered and trembled as she separated out the worst aspects of the catch, the blood and violence and hate, and broke them down into raw mana to be recycled throughout her gardens.

The life, death, and lunar that roiled within the blood of the cycle of endless, looping war broke down, dissolving through the plants and soil, energy that would eventually change into telluric and be absorbed, like bones allowed to compost.

Other power was fed into the crow shades that she’d taken within her, and I felt their power solidify.

The unwanted aspects were… Most of the contents of the time catch, honestly. But once she was done, she took the remaining power and shifted it, keeping some of the core concepts, but twisting them, altering them, and reshaping them to be more what she wanted, rather than what they had been.

I felt her draw upon the information, power, and knowledge of the smallfolk for that part, though I didn’t quite understand what exactly they were doing.

She tried to tap into the looping nature of the time catch here, to use it to allow her to speed forwards the flow of time, but such a complex, powerful, and delicate working was beyond her, and beyond me. The loop itself was a product of nature, not creation, and integrating a reworked version of it was beyond us.

When that failed, though, she invested the nature of the time catch elsewhere, burying it deep in the soil and nature she’d manipulated, spreading it through to help keep any plant within her in its prime.

Not just plants. Inhabitants. She drew upon the working of the Foxden spell, which I’d dismissed as just a twist in space, but she’d seen more of than I had. I didn’t know how much, if at all, it would slow aging, but it would help with the pains of aging if nothing else.

Finally, she came to the parts she left alone. There were almost none of those, but there were a few small things.

Finally, she finished processing the loop, and I opened my own eyes, unaware that I’d even closed them in the first place. The sun had begun to set, and the dimming light cast a dark, spooky glow over the entire forest that sent a shiver down my spine. I glanced over at Meadow and Kene, who appeared to be discussing alchemy together even further, looking over a selection of various dried herbs that Meadow had kept in her storage ring, and concocting some sort of schema for a purification potion.

When Meadow noticed that Dusk and I were fully awake and aware, she waved us over with a smile.

“Ah, good, good, glad to see that you’re both feeling well.”

Dusk cheered and threw her hands up into the air, a wave of second gate mana rolling out.

“Congrats,” Kene said, nodding to the tiny multicolored spirit. She thanked him, and then he glanced over at me and back to Dusk. “So, what kind of improvements did you make?”

Dusk waved her hand and opened the portal to her realm, and all of us wandered in.

The size of her Astral Plane had jumped again, and this time I estimated that it had to be at least four acres, maybe closer to five.

The river had expanded, and it now wandered through the acreage lazily. Several bridges made of weathered wood stretched across them, and on the other side of the river, where there had once been nothing, there was instead a cottage.

The small grove of trees was in full fall swing, and I could see crow shades shifting in the branches, along with a handful of new plants around the bottom part of the wood that I didn’t recognize that gave off the sense of magical power of battle and death.

More mundane plants had sprouted too, several young pine, ash, oak, and thorn trees, alongside some shrubbery and bushes.

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In the spring flowers section of the garden, more flowers and herbs had gone wild, creating a colorful splotch that contrasted the autumnal hues. And in the sandy, summery area where the Healer’s Heart grew, a handful of mundane cacti had popped up.

After taking it in, I headed to the cottage. It looked to be straight out of a fairy tale, made of stone and wood, with an oak door and roof, as well as wooden shutters on the glass windows. The transivy had moved so that it was now climbing up the sides and roof of the cottage.

The small folk village had wandered over to wrap around the sides of the cottage, though I noted that it appeared to have shrunk, presumably since some of the small folk were now inside. The Peacepyre hung over their village like a miniature sun. The androgynous green pixie floated up as we approached.

“Hello!” they greeted us. Kene waved, and I echoed.

“How do you like the transformation of the space?” I asked.

“Quite well!” the pixie said, smiling. “Are you planning on moving in? The Bwbatch are going to start layering wards around the village, and having you living in the cottage would help.

“Maybe,” I said noncommittally.

“You should think about it!”

We spoke to the faerie for a short while longer before we headed inside.

The door to the cottage opened into the kitchen, which was… Empty. It looked like a kitchen that came without any of the appliances that I was used to, like a stove, oven, fridge, or freezer.

I was still incredibly grateful that she’d managed to construct it, but I was curious why such obvious things were missing.

I glanced at Dusk, and she explained that she’d tried to make those things, but she hadn’t understood how, and the small folk had only been able to help so much. The time catch was too old to borrow any knowledge on modern cookware from there, so she’d just left it empty.

“It’s not too bad, actually,” Kene said, shaking their head. “She made cabinets, and those are probably the most expensive part of a kitchen.”

I stared at him blankly, and he laughed.

“It’s true! When I had to have cabinets done in my house, if I’d paid in cash, it would have easily cost me upwards of eight thousand for those alone! But since Dusk made them for you, to furnish a kitchen, you’re looking at three to five thousand for everything like plates, knives, fridge, range, all that.”

“And it isn’t as if you have to move in,” Meadow pointed out. “Even without setting up a small mana generator and all the modern luxuries, sleeping in here would beat paying for a hotel every time, and let you go out into the wilderness, where there is no hotel.”

Dusk whistled her agreement, and I realized I must have come across as pretty ungrateful, so I gently rubbed her back with one finger, and smiled.

“Thank you, Dusk.”

I peeked in the cabinets, and sure enough, the Brownies had moved in.

“This kitchen needs work,” the brownie leader, a small, dark skinned man with large ears said. “But it has potential. If you can get it up and running, we’d be happy to help you.”

I thanked them, then moved on.

The kitchen openly flowed into a great room, which had a large fireplace set against the wall, and a small wooden dining table and chairs. There was no couch facing the fire, but there was a pair of rocking chairs.

There were also four doors set along the other wall, the side without windows looking out or the fireplace, and Meadow opened them.

One led to an alchemy room, where Dusk had moved the cauldrons, set up a secondary fireplace, and made more shelving and tables. The handful of books on alchemy, construction, and other hobbies had been moved onto one shelf, along with all of my spell notes

The second led to a bathroom, and much like the kitchen, it had been left bare of any of the appliances I was used to, while the third was set up to eventually be a utility room, and likely where the enchanters and workers would be able to set the management for any modern amenities I managed to purchase.

The final room was a bedroom, with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, trunk, shelving for knick knacks, and the frame for a bed.

Dusk wind-rustled, telling me that she’d considered putting in a bed of stuffed hay and feathers, like the memories in the time catch had, but thought that could get musty really fast.

“Probably wise,” Kene said. “Dusk, can I steal you? Your construction abilities would have made making my house so much easier. And your older brother’s okay too I guess.”

I stuck out my tongue at him, and he flicked his fingers, a numbing spell hitting my tongue.

“Hey!” I protested, moving my tongue around and repeatedly opening and closing my mouth to try and work off the spell.

Dusk fell off my shoulder laughing, and forced me to catch her, and Meadow smiled.

We left the cottage and headed into the wood, where I’d sensed some of the new plants that Dusk had sprouted. The plants were some of the only things she’d left alone, copying their mana signature into herself and bringing them into reality.

I could identify two new magical plants. One of them looked rather similar to oakmoss, but it was a bright silver with red streaks, and it gave off a dangerous aura. As I touched it, I felt it bite into my skin, and I quickly yanked back, sucking on my finger.

“Ow!” I complained. Kene gestured and a small green glow condensed around my finger, healing it. I flashed him a grateful smile, then looked at Meadow.

“Why’d you let me touch it?”

“It was a good lesson to learn, and you weren’t at any significant risk,” she said. “That’s first gate Blademoss. Traditionally, it only grows in places where there’s been a great deal of violence and sharpness, like a battlefield. In ancient times, it was occasionally wrapped around the end of a staff to create a makeshift spear.”

“It’s not got much use in potions outside of making sharpening oil,” Kene commented. “I know enchanters will use it for some blade related enchantments, like making blenders.”

“And as a plant mage, it could be incorporated into a few of your spells, or used as an attack on its own,” Meadow said. “For example…”

She flicked her fingers at the Blademoss and cast Enhance Plant Life, twisting it in a specific way that would direct its physical growth. A thin ribbon of the plant rushed towards the ground and grew towards me, and I had to jump back to avoid its cutting aura.

She cut off the mana to her spell a moment later, and the portions of the spell that had rapidly been built by Enhance Plant Life quickly fell apart into shriveled dead matter, having required quite a bit of mana to grow so quickly, and not stable enough to stay grown.

The second plant was a series of small mushrooms, which Kene recognized.

“Soultoad’s Seat,” they said, “it grows around battlefields as well, feeding off the spiritual energy of souls leaving this realm. No surprise there, given the fact she absorbed a rather violent time catch.”

“What’s it do?” I asked, glancing at the rather plain, silver-white mushroom.

“It’s toxic,” Meadow said. “Eating it will likely result in a hospital visit.”

“If only people actually followed that advice,” Kene grimaced. “But yeah, it’s not edible. However, once it hits fourth gate, it’s an amazing component for transformation potions. Until then, it can be used in a few healing potions.”

“It’s typically not used because it strengthens the soul-body link,” Meadow said. “But in your case, that’s quite helpful.”

I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. The time magic may have only slowed degradation, and I may not have gotten some amazing ghost army, but I was satisfied with what Dusk had gotten out of it, and her advancement to second gate.

Then Dusk piped up, saying she had one more small surprise to show us. Nothing big, she warned, but it was something.