Wallace,

I realize that I misjudged you when we first met. I saw you as a piece and not a player with your own game. I understand that you've had little trouble establishing yourself out in the wilds, but you need exile yourself no longer.

I'll be direct. Simon will run roughshod over the three cities if left unopposed. By the time you read this letter, I will have already wrested control of Parabuteo from the simpering Baroness and have begun taking steps to return the city to proper regard. Return to Parabuteo, assist me, and have the benefit of my gratitude. The greatest magi in the city shall be your tutors. You'll have the finest estate in the city, and the right to fill its harem with any woman you choose.

A commoner's laws do not apply to nobility, and neither do those of nobility apply to the High Magus. Should you desire the use of Mind and Body magic to ensure that your household is obedient, meeting your standards of beauty, that shall also be your right.

Leave the little flat-chested boy, or keep her as a mascot. But in any case, accept your place as High Magus and help me return the city to its former glory.

Rubbing at my temples, I held out the letter for Cassius, who took it with a curious furrow of his brows.

"So she's the bad guy then?" he asked after a moment to scan the letter.

"Yeah, probably," I shrugged.

Cassius handed back the roll of parchment, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I'm sure as hell not taking her up on her offer," I yawned, "But she's going to hound me until she gets what she wants. And all she really wants is a human who knows magic and has a solid technical background."

"Are you serious right now?"

I shrugged, "Hey buddy, I'm not telling you to go or not go. You'd be a pretty useful guy around here, helping me tidy the place up. But keeping Temerity off my back would also be a big help. It's up to you."

He sighed, gazing side-long at the scroll, "Do you know how long it's been since I got laid?" he muttered.

"I don't know how old are you?"

"Hey man, fuck you. I've been living like a caveman for the past two years. Then some lady comes along promising the proper isekai shit. Money, power, women, the real deal. And I'm gonna pass because I'm a dumbass."

"No, you are wise not to accept her offer," Regina put in, "A pampered pet is still a pet."

"Yeah, certainly feel wise," Cassius muttered.

I stuffed the scroll into my pocket and glanced at Amity, "Has Valentine already gone to bed?" my eyebrows drew together as I saw a shadow flicker across her face, "What? What happened?"

"She's okay," Amity assured me hurriedly, "You just- you should talk to her."

I was about ready to head for the stairs then and there, but caught myself, and looked between Cassius and Regina. We were all tired, hungry, and dirty to varying degrees.

"Amity, I'm sorry, I know it's late, but-"

Cassius interrupted me gently, "I can eat in the morning. Just point me to where I can get a shower, and a decent bed and I'll take care of myself."

"The second floor," Amity provided, "Rooms twelve and thirteen are taken, but you can claim any of the others. The lighting doesn't work, but the hot water does, and I've turned down the bed."

Cassius put his hands together as if in prayer, "You're an angel. I'll see you guys in the morning."

And with that, he headed for the stairs as quickly as his weary legs would carry him.

"I know you're doing a lot right now," I began gently, "but do you think you could help out Regina?"

The sphinx's face coloured in shame and embarrassment, but Amity was nothing if not respectful, "Of course, there's a suite up on the third floor that should have plenty of room for you. Come on. I'll help you get settled, and see to your shoulder."

Regina bowed her head slightly, and let the gynoid show her the way.

That done, I wasted no time heading for the penthouse and took the stairs four at a time. My mind raced as I imagined any of a thousand things that might have happened, but had to force those thoughts aside. If it had been bad, Amity wouldn't have made me find out about it on my own. But thinking back, the fact that Val had never written me back was not a good sign.

I paused just outside the door and steadied my breathing. If Val were sleeping, it wouldn't do her any good to have me barge through the door huffing and puffing like a steam engine.

After a moment, I slowly turned the door handle and slipped inside.

The penthouse was more or less as I'd left it, aside from where Val had thrown her jumpsuit and shift over the back of the couch.

I took the steps up to the master bed, careful to keep my feet at the outside edges of each step so they wouldn't creak as much. The bed was unmade, and missing not only most of the covers but Val herself.

I knelt, and on a hunch, lifted the edge of the bed skirt.

Sure enough, there was a mound of piled bedcovers, and in the dim light, I could make out a bare purple calf.

"Val?" I whispered.

She stirred, and the blanket lifted slightly to reveal two weary purple eyes, "Leave me alone."

Man, was I ever tired. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed with Val and sleep till noon. Even if I had the energy to play therapist, I was the last person on earth who should be doing it. I didn't know what to say or do, I didn't even know what was wrong, only that Val was not in the best shape.

I considered doing as she asked. Sometimes I just wanted to be left the hell alone, viewing others' attempts to help as nothing but an annoyance. I was just about to rise when I caught a whiff of her pheromones, and it was easy to tell which type.

"I'm too big to fit in there with you, Val, and you've got all the blankets," I prodded.

She groaned and crawled out of the nest. I stood and took a step back so she'd have room to stand up, and she emerged from under the bed dishevelled, naked, and nearly bald.

It was far from the first time I'd seen Val undressed, but before she'd always seemed to revel in it. She'd be wearing a grin, wicked or otherwise, hair cascading about herself, and positively glowing with confidence.

It was as if the person standing before me was a different person, and not just because of the hair. She stood with slumped shoulders, slouching slightly. Val bowed her head, but she looked up at me with a sullen expression and dark circled eyes. Her skin had a wet sheen to it, not from sweat, but the sheer amount of aggression pheromone she was putting out.

"Stop it, Val," I murmured, kneeling to her eye level, "We'll have none of that."

I went to draw her into my arms, but she pushed away, and with such force that she stumbled backwards onto her backside.

She was still releasing more aggression pheromone into the air, but I found that any effect it may have had was being overwhelmed by the sickness I felt seeing Val in such obvious pain.

"I'm so sorry, Val," I pleaded, "I was such an idiot. I should have been the one to see her. Or we should have gone together like you wanted."

"What would have been the point of that?" she asked sourly, "I saw your message, the chief would have just laughed at me, stupid little girl. And I don't want your help. Anyone else would have been able to handle Temerity on their own, you were relying on me to deal with her, and I fucked it up," the last few words came out in a squeak, and she pressed her hands to her face, "I'm useless. Whenever I pretend otherwise I just get myself hurt, then spend days letting someone else take care of me, like right now. Oh," she almost sobbed, "I don't know why I even talked Phoebe and Felicity into coming, I was so awful to them, and I'm just going to make their lives more miserable taking care of me."

She took her hands away from her face, and though her eyes were red, there were no tears.

"You're everything I pretend to be, gods I hate you so much."

"Is it okay if I come over there and hug you?" I asked gently.

She closed her eyes, nodding rapidly, and I wrapped her up in my arms.

She buried her face in my shoulder, "Gods, I'm crying like a useless little girl. I don't know why you even keep me around."

"I wouldn't want to do any of this without you," I told her honestly, "I don't think I could. Val, I've got the brawn covered, I need what's in here," I insisted, gently holding the back of her head against my shoulder."

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"And you need someone to fuck when you get bored."

"Hey," I chastised, "You know that's not true. If it were, you wouldn't have had to try so hard to get me naked. That's never what this has been about. Don't tarnish it by pretending otherwise."

"I know, I'm sorry I just-"

"You don't need to explain yourself to me," I assured her, rubbing her back, "And you're not useless. So maybe Temerity got her pound of flesh, it's not like I'm perfect either. One of the villagers heard me running my fool mouth, and they tried to make sure I never made it back to claim rulership."

"Gods, here I am wailing about myself, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Had to leave in a hurry, just jogged like thirty miles, but Regina was the only one who took a wound."

Val pulled back slightly so she could meet my gaze, "Regina?"

"New friend. She's a sphinx, was originally created for some Dungeons and Dragons theme park. Amity's helping her out now, she's only got paws, so it's hard for her to clean or feed herself."

She squeezed me tighter, "I'm starting to think you enjoy collecting damaged people and broken things."

"If this were an anime, I'd tell you about how important the power of friendship is, and that we all have our own strengths or whatever and need to work together as a team to make a difference."

"It's easy for you to say," she muttered darkly, "Your only problem seems to be crippling awkwardness."

I'm a lousy therapist. A good therapist probably would have tried to convince Val that self-acceptance was the best path. Changing what she could and accepting what she couldn't. But that was bullshit. I had magic, and I was going to figure this shit out.

"Fine, you're right," I agreed, lifting her bodily to set her on the bed, "I'm going to set my mighty intellect to the task of fixing your hair and making you as strong as I am. And you're gonna help because I'll probably screw it up otherwise."

Val curled her legs under herself, covering her chest with one forearm, "Thank's Wally."

I pulled the rest of the blankets out from under the bed and threw them over her, "I'll take a shower, and then I'll be back," I promised, and she nodded obediently.

----------------------------------------

Val put on a strong face after that, acting for all the world as if her new hairstyle had been the result of a whim. But I knew she was still rattled, though she went to pains trying to hide it from me. Not knowing what else to do, I set my mind to the spells I'd need to keep my promise, and just tried to be there for her. It was a fact I could tell she appreciated, as she was an awful lot more cuddly than usual.

It took a little prodding, but I eventually got her downstairs the next morning for breakfast, where we found the others getting settled around one of the restaurant's larger tables.

There was Cassius, leaning back, his elbow over the back of the chair. Big and broad, he fit the medieval blacksmith image well, or I suppose pre-medieval in his case. Though he'd raided the hotel's wardrobe since arriving last night and had traded in his rustic attire for something more in line with his origins.

Valentine introduced me to Felicity and Phoebe, who sat to Cassius' right. Both were elves, though neither rose to Temerity's stature.

Felicity was the smaller of the two, though not too much shorter than Cassius. She seemed a little 'punky', for lack of a better term. She wore three quarter length pants and a halter top, both were tan, and exposed the extensive tattooing across her abdomen, up her arms, and down her calves. At first, I took them for something akin to a tribal tattoo, but they had more in common with kanji or Norse runes. Her hair was black with a faint hint of purple where it caught the light, which she wore in a pixie cut. There was enough metal in her face for a good many spells, with both ears pierced in several places, along with her nose and lower lip.

Phoebe, by contrast, looked more professional. Had she been human, I would have expected to see her wearing a pantsuit, but instead, she wore a light green tunic that fell to just below her knees. It was a simple design but fit her very well, hugging her unique figure.

Unique, as in, she seemed to be missing the left side of her bust, and I saw three fine and evenly placed scars poking out of her collar on that side.

Though a few silver threads were hiding in her shoulder-length pale purple hair, I didn't think she could be much older than myself.

Then there was Regina, resplendent upon the couch Amity had provided for her. Regina's thick mane of hair had been washed and brushed to a silky sheen, as had the rest of her fur. I could still see the red line of the wound against her shoulder, but it was healing cleanly. Her wings had also been meticulously groomed, with not a feather out of place.

For her part, Amity could be heard working in the kitchen, and she joined us shortly after Val and I sat down. She came bearing trays with waffles, juice, fresh fruit, eggs, and bacon.

"How?" was all I could say when I saw it all laid out before us, and we each began filling our plates.

Amity joined Regina on the couch, and threw an arm over her back, "The waffles were a bit of an experiment," she admitted, using her free arms to fill a plate for Regina, "But once Cassie explained the purpose of the device on the counter I grasped the basics and decided to try it."

Cassius paused, fork halfway to his mouth, "She plugged into it," he provided.

"Plugged in?" Felicity asked, sweeping her gaze between the two, "I don't understand."

"We've got everyone's names, but maybe we should go around the table, and each of us can explain what it is we do?" Amity suggested cheerily.

Cassius and I shared weary looks, but neither of us protested.

"You can start," I said with a nod.

"Alright, well some of you already know this, but I'm a gynoid. I'm a machine in the shape of a woman, though Wally helped me upgrade some of my components," she added, waving her extra pair of hands, "I'm pretty good in a fight now, and I can take a lot more abuse than a normal woman my size. Some of you may be unfamiliar with some of the features of our new home. So am I, but I have cables that allow me to provide or draw power as needed. I do need some help keeping my batteries charged, but Wally's been a big help with that. As long as I'm powered, I don't need to sleep, so I've been doing what I can to tidy up the place, help out and cook. So if there's anything you need help with, or if you're feeling peckish, you need only ask."

"I think everyone but Cassie and Regina know me by now," Val began, "But I was a fey noblewoman. About a month ago I sold my stake to my twin, and since then I've been dodging would-be suitors. This all got started when I hired Wallace on as a bodyguard. I'm not much use in a fight," Val grimaced, "Fey tend to faint if they do anything too strenuous, like climbing the stairs or walking more than a few dozen yards. But I'm good enough with magic, and this amulet covers my weaknesses," she explained, lifting it out of her shirt with a finger, "Though it leaves much to be desired."

"My name is Wallace, like Cassius, I'm human- yes really," I added, seeing Regina's raised eyebrow, "Yeah, I'm not exactly average," I waggled one hand, "Extra fingers, super-dense bones and muscles, and I'm obviously really tall. Cole's Notes version is, I'm even tougher and stronger than I look. The version of Earth I come from is also pretty advanced, I don't think it's on a level with where Regina is from, but this building would fit in well on my world, so I'm familiar with most of what's inside. Val's been teaching me magic, and I've used it to get stuff like the hot water and freezer working."

"Ah, so I have you to thank," Phoebe said with a warm smile.

"Just wait till you try the ice cream," Val replied with the first real grin I'd seen from her since returning.

"Man, do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had a cold beer?" Cassius groaned.

"Bar's fully stocked," I told him, "But, you know, it's not even ten yet, so maybe-"

He waved a hand, absently, "I got standards. And I'm Cassius. Pretty sure the big man and I are from the same world, or at least mine's similar. While he was doing software stuff, I was doing hardware, robotics."

Amity perked up at that, regarding him with renewed interest.

"Uh, so I build the thing, and he makes it work," he explained, trying his best to make sense for the others, "But for the past two years, I've been living in this crappy bronze age village and working as a smith. That's when I started to figure out magic, and the locals started calling me Shaper. I got hit by the freaky green mist twice, second time was six months ago. Wallace says it was kind of a big deal that the first world I ended up on had magic, but it did. Not that it did me a ton of good. Gonna be honest, I'm not much good in a fight."

"You seem plenty strong to me," Felicity said supportively.

Cassius grinned sheepishly, "Thanks, but all this is pretty new to me. When I first arrived, I was just a tall, skinny nerd who drank too many energy drinks. Working as a blacksmith for two years is what built all this up, and is just about the only thing I got out of the whole arrangement," he raised his glass in salute. Granted, it was orange juice, but I appreciated the gesture, "I'll be honest, yesterday sucked, but I'm glad to be here now. So thanks, man."

"Glad I could help," I said with a shrug.

"I'm Felicity," the punky little woman began, and I saw a flash of metal on her tongue when she spoke, "I can't say I'm all that good in a fight either. I know which end of a sword to hold, and know some basic battle magic, but that's about it. I did some surveying and scavenging with Val and Phee back in the day, but more recently I've been working out of my apartment doing tattoos, piercings, hair, that sort of thing. Otherwise, I'm just a pretty normal elf. I'm not super strong or made of metal or anything. I just hope I can be useful."

"I've already given my name as Phoebe, and yes, I spent some time galavanting about with Felicity and Valentine some years ago," she spoke in a mature voice, carrying with it a tone of quiet confidence. "I've trained both with a rapier and in the use of battle magic, though mostly duelling rather than open combat. Since then, I've been doing my best to explore what there is to learn of magic, and until yesterday was the foremost candlemaker in Parabuteo. I've had little cause to visit Pelignos and Caniforma since hanging up my sword belt, but I can scarcely imagine anyone there being more skilled than I at the craft."

"You make magic candles? That's pretty cool," I don't know what it was I'd said, but Val seemed to crumple at the words, covering her face with her hands.

Phoebe spared a pleased look for Val before returning her gaze to me, "Thank you. The enchantments you've managed here are quite impressive, but the candles I've devised have their benefits."

"Is it an enchantment, or somewhere in the middle?"

"Somewhere in the middle between an enchantment and a spell," she agreed with a nod.

"We should talk afterwards. I need to cast a spell to keep Amity's batteries charged. It would be better if we could prepare the spell as a candle so she can light it on her own. Assuming that's even how it works."

"You're quite right," Phoebe agreed, "And I'd be glad to help."

"What about you, Felicity?" Cassius asked, "Any magic tattoos or piercings?"

"I try," she said weakly, "It's just basic enchantments, for now, nothing fancy. Um, what about you? Regina, right?" Felicity asked, crowbarring the conversation onto a new subject.

Regina nodded her massive head. Amity had been feeding her with a lower arm, and paused to dab at the sphinx's mouth with a napkin, "That's correct, and Wallace is right. The world I'm from is yet further advanced than his own, though I fear I know little of value. Until the 'green mist', as Cassius referred to it, arrived I was limited to a few square kilometres within Dungeon World. Think of it as a playground for overgrown man-children seeking to live out their fantasies," she glowered, and Cassius and I shared another look at that, "I'd not even seen a true sky, only whatever the masters of Dungeon World displayed that day within the habitation drum."

"Habitation drum? You were on a space station?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, an O'Neill cylinder. I'm told the internal surface area was just over eight hundred kilometres. However, as I said, I was limited to only a tiny portion of that," she inspected one paw, flexing her claws experimentally, "I suppose this body is suited for fighting if little else. However, until yesterday I'd not had cause to fight in earnest. I spent most of my time telling riddles, a great many of which, it seems, the giant has already heard."

"Can you fly?" Felicity asked eagerly.

"No," was the flat reply.

Even with the past few days' troubles, the simple pleasure of sharing a meal reassured me. It gave me the confidence that we'd reason our way through the troubles facing us, and even Val seemed cheered by it.

The conversation veered into idle chatter once the introductions were complete, and we enjoyed the work Amity had gone to in creating such a delicious spread. Not that she was content to rest on her laurels once it was on the table. Aside from insisting upon cleaning up afterwards, she seemed genuinely happy to help Regina.

I had to hide a wry smile when the gynoid gave up on utensils and began feeding the big sphinx by hand, giggling as Regina licked maple syrup from her fingers.

Well don't worry Cassie, I thought, the other two are still single.