Bellona watched with amusement as the chaotic giggle of pixies descended upon the unprepared Deidre, but she was also keeping a close eye on her reactions. A brief moment of panic caused Deidre's pale blue eyes to widen and she flinched as the first of the endlessly chattering fae touched her, but she held her ground without lashing out. That panic faded and the tension in her body slowly relaxed as she adjusted to what was happening.

Not that Bellona was left alone by the swarm, but as someone they knew she was far less interesting.

Eventually, Deidre turned toward Bellona and asked, "What is going on with these creatures?"

"Well," Bellona replied, "consider what might happen if a living dungeon created a challenge involving some pixie-like creations, and then that self-same dungeon developed the ability to grant all of its inhabitants true sapience. Especially if that dungeon was known for a vivid imagination and a gentle nature. Now add to this mix of unexpectedly sapient pixies the extended presence of a shard of Li Zarb. A shard who spent time telling these excitable, impressionable creatures all sorts of stories and thus taught them to tell stories in turn and who was excited to meet them and was looking forward to seeing them everywhere." She shrugged before continuing. "These rooms have the greatest density of them given the role they have to play, but there are more of them than are necessary as well. Most of them like each other, so they tend to cluster in areas but you never know where you will find one."

Deidre carefully shook her head slowly, and a handful of pixie screamed with delighted 'terror' as they swung on handfuls of her long hair. "You had a divine shard here?"

"Yes, and I had unwittingly run into this same shard well before my arrival here. It seems that he and Mordecai were friends during Mordecai's previous life as well. The events leading to Mordecai's return may well have been influenced by Li, though that would be difficult to prove."

The giggle was slowly thinning as the pixies were distracted by other thoughts, though several were fascinated by Deidre's hair. The woman's face was impassive once more, but her voice carried notes of frustration and anger. "How lucky for him. Others could use a bit of that luck."

"Yes," Bellona agreed, "and always there are many who could. But even the gods can only do so much, lest by interfering they end up binding our free will. Most of the ills of this world are born from choices made by mortals, and ill luck makes up most of the rest. The gods give us tools and aid with which to make the world better, and they can give better tools and aid to those who find a path of devotion. It is not perfectly fair, but it is more fair than a world in which they do not intervene at all. One should not give up hope, there are always paths to a better future, however narrow those paths might be. A bit of luck and chance revived Mordecai and others have reacted to this for good and ill. Now Mordecai and his allies must react in turn. He may very well be able to help others who need it in the process, even if they have been suffering a long time."

Their conversation had bored the pixies enough to drive most of them away, though at least one had managed to partially cocoon itself in Deidre's hair and was fast asleep. "Those words might be pleasant, but it does not make the suffering go away," she replied, ignoring the long trains of flowers that had been woven into her hair.

"No, at least, not the suffering of the past. And there will be lingering pain, some wounds do not heal fast or well. But there is a better future to be achieved. And we would work to achieve it," Bellona said.

"Hmm." Deidre did not look satisfied with that answer. "There are many who suffer. Would you strike the chains off of the one person you know, but leave the chains on others simply because they are not known to you?"

Bellona sighed. "That is difficult. How do you force an entire empire to change? Assuming you have the brute force to conquer it, how many would suffer in the process? But maybe this will be the first step in a longer process. The world is complicated, and the future is impossible to predict. All we can do is our best. Now," she gestured out at the room, "I think we've carried this conversation as far as we can for the moment. Would you like to continue the puzzle?"

After a long moment of consideration, Deidre nodded. "Very well." Her movements were a little stiff but Bellona wasn't surprised that the woman might be upset. The idea that all of one's suffering might boil down to a combination of bad luck and the ill choices of others was a tough pill to swallow. Bellona wasn't great at the soft touch stuff, but she could provide this perspective at least.

It took only a little while for Deidre to realize the trick of this puzzle and set about working with the pixies to have them become the proper flowers on the correct tree or bush. Working with the flighty creatures seemed difficult for her, and at the least, Bellona would guess that she rarely interacted with children or the like. In truth, her social interactions were probably very limited in many ways, so maybe this would be good practice.

The next zone proved much easier for the avatar. Even with her bindings in place, identifying the various patterns and matching timing or notes proved rather simple for her. Watching the almost eerie grace with which she moved made Bellona glad she hadn't had to face Deidre in any sort of fair and open battle if this was what she was like while restricted. The crystal-based puzzles were all completed faster than she'd been able to complete the last matching puzzle with the pixies.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The theater zone was a different beast and Bellona had realized that it might be an issue before they even began. So she gave Deidre a bit of advice. "This one might be difficult for you. Sometimes, putting on a mask to play a role is in truth removing other masks. This challenge is about overcoming yourself and working with what is available, but it will be hard to pass if you can't find the fun in it. Kazue says that you can call a break at any time if anything becomes too much, and the bunkin have been asked to be a little more toned down than usual. It might help to remember that Fuyuko managed to clear this section on the very day that she first arrived here, and she enjoyed herself."

The warning left Deidre visibly nervous, but that was as much advice as Bellona could give without weakening the challenge. In truth, even this would have been too much warning for most, but there was a certain brittleness to Deidre's emotions that suggested the emotional toll of improvisation acting in front of an audience of bunkin was going to be tough on her.

The stage director and the other actors had to operate in an entirely different way than normal. The standard frenetic pace and shouting would not do well in this case, and Bellona couldn't even guess which way Deidre might break if pressed wrong. This set of plays were all variations of ancient stories, and many of them involved bad things happening to someone and that person overcoming them to achieve a happy life in some way. She was never the target of the events nor the causer of them, she was some variation of support or bystander for the hero of the story, but she still had to act with the sort of sincerity that would leave her feeling exposed.

She managed to make her way through the small dramas with only short breaks between, but completing the set left Deidre trembling with the emotional backlash. If Bellona had been on her own here this would have been a lot harder to work with, but Mordecai passed on a suggestion that had helped Fuyuko.

"So, why don't we just have your prizes sent to your room, and you can look them over later? I can lead you to one of the hidden shops in the library and we can take a break there, and after that you can decide how you want to proceed."

Deidre simply nodded and let herself be led to the zone's exit. Her expression changed a little when they entered the safe area. "So soon? And they've done so much. A safe place doesn't have to be anything more than a bare room, and you don't have to have any."

Bellona nodded. "Yes, but the next level is large enough that it can be an all-day venture by itself, and generally speaking they don't want people camping in the middle of the library, so this works for everyone. Also, Kazue really enjoys being a good host, so most of the amenities beyond room to sleep and sanitary facilities are her idea. And their entire goal is to try and not get anyone killed on either path, while still providing sufficient challenge."

As they talked the two of them crossed to the library's entrance. Deidre's steps slowed a little once they were inside, and she took the time to look around and take in the size of the place. "You have so many books in less than a year?"

"No," Bellona said with a small laugh, "Not really. It's an impressive collection, but right now many of these are duplicates and blanks. There are several that are their own composition as well. Most of them are new works compiling information from several related older works, a task that is easier for them than for most other people." She paused as a mischievous thought came to mind and looked around to make sure no one else was nearby. "If you find any steamy fictions under the name 'Raimi Darlington', I think those are actually Kazue's under a pen name."

A mental gasp sounded in Bellona's head, and one of Kazue's illusions flickered to life. "How did you figure that out‽ Please, please don't tell anyone! Some people have picked them out as part of their prizes, so the books are out there and I can't have them know they are mine! What if my mom or dad found out? Oh gods, what if she's already read a copy? Please, promise me?" The illusionary redhead was adorable as she pleaded with the two of them.

Bellona chuckled, "I promise to be careful in what few I tell, but I reserve my discretion in the matter."

Deidre was a bit slower to reply and more precise in her promise. "Within my limitations, I will not volunteer the information unless I think it beneficial for you if I do."

Kazue groaned and hid her face with her hands. "That's the best I'm going to get, isn't it? Alright, I guess I can't ask for more. Just, please, I really don't want this to get out. Um, ah, continue your delve I guess."

Once Kazue's illusionary winked back out, a very amused Bellona finished leading Deidre to the frozen sweets shop. "I think I know what you need right now. I normally prefer the tea shop, but this seems like the right sort of occasion, and an exotic fruit with an interesting seed was brought in a few weeks ago that is perfect." And with that, she ordered two servings of 'chocolate indulgence', which layered everything from baked chocolate to chocolate ice cream to chocolate fudge poured over the top.

The blonde avatar looked dubious at the dark brown food in front of her and poked at it with a spoon a couple of times before tentatively taking her first bite. There was a moment of mild confusion before she took a second bite, and she continued to look puzzled as she devoured every last morsel of it. "I don't understand, why do I like this so much? It is somewhat bitter, even with the sugar and cream."

"Most people do, especially women, and even more so during times of stress," Bellona said as she continued savoring her serving. "But normally it is an exotic dish served in smaller quantities to the rich. Some entrepreneur secured a sample for the purposes of importing it to the dungeon, so now it's a local treat as well. Kazue and Mordecai decided they were only going to give finished products as prizes or to be purchased individually, they weren't going to mass produce it for trade. But it will still probably cause the price to dip."

"That seems wise," Deidre replied as she scraped the shallow glass bowl. "Crashing a market can create ire."

"Now, you have a decision to make. Do you want to continue your delve today, or do you want to come back tomorrow? Under other circumstances, you would probably need to stay in the safe area like a normal delver, but given the way things are right now that won't work well."

"No, I suppose not," she said with a sigh and put her spoon down. "Physically I should be able to do it, but I find I want to be well-rested before seeing what the challenge is for this zone. I think I understand now why you all want me to explore like this. It is a very different sort of dungeon than I would have imagined previously. I can't imagine my situation makes my dungeon normal either, but this is a very different sort of not normal. I don't know if I am even ready to understand what is going on, but I think I want to at least see it."