After breakfast, I kissed all three girls on the forehead then headed toward the entrance to the cave. I poked my head into the bear's alcove. She was lying on her back, arms and legs spread out wide. Shaking my head at the bear's strange sleeping habits, I headed outside. Or I tried to, but a snowdrift entirely blocked the entrance. I suppose this is why the cavern's temperature had risen steadily throughout the night.

Well, I suppose this is a good thing. Nothing can distract May and Meera during their breakthroughs. I headed back inside our cavern and reported my findings. With nothing better to do, I found a corner and tried to meditate, only to grow bored after barely an hour. Grunting, I headed to the back of the cavern where Meera found a small, mostly collapsed tunnel and started to shift the fallen boulders carefully.

Nearly three hours later, I had barely uncovered ten feet. I Went back to the camp to look for some water and found Snow overseeing the bear as it somehow dug out a huge hole near the fire. I walked over and stood behind Snow, wrapping my arm around her while placing my palm over her abdomen. "What are you up to?" I asked as she leaned back against me, placing her own hands over mine. She only hummed as she watched the bear dig through stone like it was clay. "I'm sorry I let you to think I did not want you."

She turned around and rested her head on my chest. "It's fine. I know you were mostly forced into this, But I want you to know that I love you and Meera as well as May. I wouldn't trade my life for anything right now." I nodded, then kissed her. We stayed like that for several more minutes before she pushed away. "Your filthy what have you been doing all morning?"

I showed her then we went back to the Bear. "Okay, how did you convince the bear to dig a hole? I assume this is for the tub May asked for."

Snow giggled. "May banned me from cultivating until the baby is born. So I was bored and began talking to the bear, who seemed interested and was a good listener. After a little while, she started marking out a square then began cutting into the stone. She is amazing. Look, she is removing the stone in even-sized chunks and doesn't make a big mess with dust or bits of gravel."

I chuckled then started cleaning the debris away to make things easier for Snow's fluffy worker. Snow bent to help, but both the bear and I stopped and stared at her until she went back to supervising. I gave the nod to the bear, who snorted at me before returning to her task. Snow huffed then announced that she would make lunch. Both the bear and I grinned at her.

After we ate, I went back to my excavation of the tunnel while the bear headed back towards its alcove. Meera stopped her meditation and joined us, but quickly returned to it as soon as she finished. That's how we spent our next few days. Although I frequently took a look at the entrance, I even attempted to dig my way out a couple of times, but it seemed as if the entire forest had been buried in a sea of snow. That's not to say I couldn't get out, but why bother? It's not like we can travel on top of several feet of snow.

During our second week, Meera and I spent several hours hauling snow to fill the tub. I found it tedious, but Meera, who had broken through to the establishing foundation stage, seemed to really get into the job. Or maybe she really wants a bath like the other girls. Once we finished filing it and May had warmed the water slightly, Fluffy (Meera's idea) walked right into the water and immediately covered it in red hair that I, unfortunately, had to clean out. May and Meera did take the opportunity to wash our somewhat smelly landlord. Fluffy didn't seem to mind in the least; in fact, she really enjoyed all the attention.

I also reached the end of the collapsed tunnel. I ended up having to stop and shore up the walls a couple of times with iron vines. They worked really well. At the end was a tunnel that seemed to be an old dried-out underground river. I followed it to the left for a quarter-mile, where it ended in a sudden drop into a seemingly bottomless pit. It wasn't. I did drop a rock down, but I didn't hear a clatter for several long minutes, followed by the shrieking of some creature living below. Luckily it didn't try to investigate the reason for the stone falling into its abode.

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When I returned to camp, I got a chewing out for my troubles. May was the most distressed for some reason. I think she is just bored and needs an outlet. I promised to let her join me when I checked the other direction. Which led to both Snow and Meera insisting they had to join as well. I wanted Snow to stay in camp, but I decided it would be better if we didn't split up; what if someone discovered this cave and decided to check it out, and May nor I was around? Oh, right, May has also reached the congealing channel's stage. Once she opens a couple of meridians, she will have caught up with me.

The next day we set off, leaving Fluffy behind to watch our home. Fluffy looked like she wanted to follow, but I insisted she stay behind. Bears aren't ideal for cave exploration. Before we left, I pulped some of the glowing moss that grew around the cavern, making a few jars worth. I handed one to Meera and a stick, giving her the job of marking our path with the glowing ink. Meera agreed instantly as I knew she would. She loves it when we give her a job that sounds important. Of course, this one doesn't sound important. It is the most important one for this trip into the unknown depths.

Before we left, Fluffy licked each girl and reluctantly let me rub behind her ears. Then watched as we disappeared into the tunnel. We never noticed when she turned and left the cave. The snow melting in a wide circle creating a tunnel as she moved.

For the first half-hour of our trek, I stayed next to Snow, making sure she didn't trip and fall. Until she got irritated enough and told May to keep me away or she would shove an arrow so far up... Nevermind. From then on, our speed increased, and we found the end of the tunnel. The underground river must have come down in a waterfall from a crack we could see several feet above our heads. We only found three offshoots of tunnels marked liberally with glowing goop by our little way-marker during our walk.

We headed back to the first, following a trail of glowing drops and the occasional arrow pointing back the way we came. Inside was a ledge that Snow and May climbed over easily while I handed Meera up to them. My time, however, was not so easy. It turns out climbing through caves is not so easy with only one arm. It didn't help my wives kept teasing me, asking if I wanted to go back and watch the camp with Fluffy. If only the ceiling weren't so low, I could have easily jumped the distance.

When I eventually made it to the top, I decided to be the adult and ignore their earlier comments. I took a deep breath noticing the smell of water. I felt the nearby tunnel wall and didn't feel any moisture, so we continued. The tunnel had a slight curve to it, making it so we could only see about a hundred yards at the most. Not that the light was good enough for us to need to see further.

The curve lasts so long I would have thought we would end up back at the beginning if not for the slight decline in elevation. We stopped for a break when I thought it was fairly close to noon. Meera, who had begun to get bored, perked up, thinking we were going to head back now. I think she was worried about Fluffy, who I am sure was happy to have her cave to herself for a day or two.

After a quick lunch, we continued. to be fair to Meera, I was bored too and was contemplating turning around, but May seemed to be enjoying herself, so I kept my frustration to myself. The tunnel was absolutely dull except for the occasional boulder we didn't find so much as a centipede on our trek. I was beginning to think I imagined that shriek when I dropped the stone down into the pit.

Nearing what I figured was the end of the day, I was about to call a halt and discuss turning back when May held up a hand to silence me. She squatted behind a large boulder that blocked half the tunnel and waved us to get down. We did and crept closer. I peered around the boulder, and my jaw dropped. I could see the end of the tunnel, and it ended in a huge stone door with symbols etched into it, covering the entire surface. In front of the door, a metal puppet stood holding a massive sword at ready. It was coated in a thick layer of rust, but it still looked impressive standing there at nearly eight feet in height.