The crowd marveled at the expanse of the cavern. With the dangerous fungi removed, it seemed even larger than ever. Lanterns had been placed by the entry door and the portal to Alder's clearing, as well as scattered elsewhere, but they barely pierced the gloom. They had discovered it was part of a much larger natural cave system, blocked off by artificial walls and the mushroom colonies.

The miners were focused mainly on the glints and traces of the valuable minerals that were visible. The rest just ooh'd and ahh'd at the spectacle.

"This place is huge!" Amelia declared, craning her neck to see the dimly lit roof of the cavern.

"Aye, missy! It'll get bigger as we excavate, too!" Tuuka's voice echoed, although with the level of noise in the cavern, it was hard to hear.

It had taken several days of perilous work to remove the cave's inhabitants. They had worked out how to prop open the doors from the statue and hag cave. Then they barricaded the entrance to the cavern and forced its door open as well. Several teams, well protected from the spores by masks and suits, then sprayed the fungicide on the ambulatory mushroom creatures. Once those were eradicated, they slowly advanced into the room, destroying only the fungi that Briar pointed out as dangerous. It was hot, nasty work, but they got through it.

After all the spraying, the cavern was closed up for several days. Briar had guessed that they'd need to make several passes since any spores they missed would still be hazardous, and the parent mushrooms were particularly hardy. So they established a cycle of spray, wait, clean, then repeat. Eventually, though, the goblin determined it was safe. She'd have to continuously monitor the place for some time to make sure nothing obnoxious took hold, but it was free from danger for the moment.

"Sorry, I can't get another portal going, or help you guys with this. Bert keeps telling me that it is 'root access only', and that this area isn't even part of his realm. Which is weird, but he's the expert."

"Don't worry, missy. We can handle it. Most of us turned to mining since that's all that was available, and it was a miserable life. But that was working for someone else. There's somethin' about doing it for yourself and family, as your own boss, that makes it so much better."

Amelia nodded. Both he and Tyni had helped with some of the work on the cavern so far, and she could tell Tuuka was itching to do some digging.

"Does that mean you're giving up on the brewery?" She teased.

Tuuka clutched at his chest like he was having a heart attack, stepping back several paces. "Ack! No! Bite your tongue, you!" He pointed and glared at her, then winked, spoiling the angry image.

He looked around the cavern again, then turned to face her fully. "In another life, I'd be happy to toil in here the rest of my days. But brewing and distillation is my passion. How could I give that up? Especially with that new pub of Miss Sandy's. And Briar put in all those fruit trees! Cider, apple jack, peach brandy! I'm afraid I'll just dabble in here when they need a spare hand."

Amelia nodded. The trees had been a surprise. After the last cottage expansion, the garden had greatly increased in size. Briar had explained that she just couldn't maintain that much space, so fruit trees were a good use of the area. Considering how fast things grew in the hollow, they'd be having cider and other fruit-based products in no time.

"Have you guys explored the rest of the caves, yet?" She asked. There were several branches out of the main cavern. The ones she could see from where she and Tuuka stood were blocked off with wooden barriers and caution tape.

"Just a short way. It's a horizontal cave system, which is convenient. Not too many big drops, crevasses, or level changes, but a few. We blocked'em off mainly, so the kids don't wander in and get lost."

"Let me know when you guys start exploring! I'd like to come along if I wouldn't be in the way."

"Of course! We don't have the people to expand the area right now. We'll mostly just focus on a few of these veins here, right at the surface of the wall. But Picker told me about your tour idea for expeditions and tours, and this would be a pretty safe place to start. He and his mum know what they're doing. Can't promise it'll be fun, though. Mostly tedious surveying, mapping, and slow-going."

"Yeah, I figured. Still, it'd be an exciting change from above ground, you know? I don't exactly have a bunch of experience in spelunking, after all."

"Spelunking? We prefer to use 'Caving', missy! More about the exploration, conservation, and proper use, not the adventure." he winked again.

"See? Didn't even know that!" She laughed. "I have three sources of light with me, though!" She indicated the dimly glowing wisp nestled in her hair, and the faint glimmer from Fern, who was currently flitting around the stalactites above.

"That would be two. The third?"

"[Candle Flame]" She pronounced, and a tiny tongue of flame leapt up from her extended index finger. It danced there happily until she let it extinguish after a few seconds.

"Very nice! The goat teach you that?"

"Yup! He likes practical spells like that. They're useful and safer to practice on."

"Aye! I heard about the fireball incident. And everyone felt the earthquake one."

"Yeah, oops! Before the next class, I'm gonna have Bert make us a practice range. And maybe a hospital facility, just in case. Good thing the kids have been practicing dodging the water jet spells, so Spoon was able to get out of the way. Mostly. He doesn't even have a scar!"

The dwarf shook his head. He had concerns about the kid's teaching methods, but they were undeniably effective. Amelia and every child in the hollow had picked up several spells, and they practiced constantly. The fact that that 'practice' amounted to trying to soak each other in the most embarrassing way possible was amusing, though.

Amelia watched as several of the goblins and dwarves left via the portal. Unlike the one between the brewery and Sandy's back room, it was one way only. They would be able to transport spoil and ore out that way, but the entrance would stay via the narrow stairway in the center of Alder's clearing. That is unless they were able to drive another passage out. It wasn't clear if this space was in another realm or not, and the miners weren't sure if they could dig their way out. Luckily, it wasn't a long walk from the stairs to the cavern, and there was plenty of room to bring in shoring timbers, tools, and the other things they'd need.

It was a little odd, though, looking through the portal. Amelia moved over to stare through it after most had left the cavern. You could see into the clearing clearly, like a window. She watched as the various kids and adults greeted Alder and his entourage, then headed back through the trees and up the hill towards the cottage. The old oak tree was narrating something, as she could see his woody 'lips' moving and his face animate. She hadn't seen any of the human gamers this morning, so he was probably playing with some of the woodland spirits or other inhabitants.

The tree was seriously addicted to role-playing games. After a lifetime spent in one specific location, the chance to travel to fantastic locations and do amazing things was intoxicating to him, even if it was just all pretend. She wasn't sure he'd actually slept for days, since Bill, Dan, and Ann had taught him to play. They'd been back a few times, along with some of their friends, and had played marathon sessions. When they weren't available, though, the old oak would run games for anybody who wanted. She'd seen the squirrels, birds, goblin kids, and even Miss Jennifer and Miss Annie joining him. Some of them struggled a bit with the dice until Scorper and Bellows turned out some sets sized and suitable for the various claws, paws, beaks, and iron talons. She even had her own set they'd presented to her. It was gorgeous, although ebony with scarlet numbering did seem a little showy. The engravings Scorper had done were fantastic, though, as always. She just didn't look too closely at the more 'risqué' scenes he'd done--they were too easily distracting.

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Amelia was strongly tempted to join him for another session, but there were other things that needed her attention. Not that she needed to manage or oversee anything. For whatever reason, few of the inhabitants, new or old, were willing to 'bother' her if they needed something. No matter how much she insisted it wasn't a bother, the message didn't seem to get through. So she made a habit of proactively looking for ways to make life better for everyone she could. Which took more time than the assistance itself, but she didn't begrudge it. It was incredibly rewarding seeing the hollow, or at least the cottage area, becoming a bustling hive of happy activity.

And now they had a pub! Well, technically, Sandy had a pub, and it was in the village, several minutes walk away. But through the miracles of portals, she could be there almost instantly! She usually used the brewery portal, since most of the time she was in or around the cottage. Today, though, she decided to stretch her legs a bit and walk to the trilithon entrance. So she had bid goodbye to Tuuka and the other miners, who had been getting set up to start mining properly. After waving to Alder, she found the right path and followed it for the brief distance to the mound clearing.

It was a beautiful day out, and the sun falling on the stone uprights made a stunning vista. The portal to the pub wasn't actually through the trilithon, since that was already a gateway that connected to other realms. It also had the disadvantage of being in the open, with no shade, which would disincline many of the hollow's residents from wanting to use it. So Bert had placed it just at the edge of the clearing, in the deeply shadowed trunk of a huge tree. You had to know it was there, or else have the sight, to be able to find it. There wasn't an obvious entry or doorknob, but if you grasped a particular stub of a branch just right, the door would open, and you'd be looking into the murky interior of the public room.

Amelia stepped through and allowed her eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness after closing the front door.

"Sweetling! Come for something ... luscious? Something ... juicy?"

"Hi, Ashlee! Whadya suggest?"

Amelia plopped down onto one of the soft sofas against one of the walls. The booths were comfy, too, but she felt like being sociable at the moment.

"Crispy chipssss, hmmm, hmmm? Tassty ale? Or I could ask Tyni to make beans on toast for you, sweetling!" replied the crone. She had filled out from her time outside the vault. No longer looking like a bundle of sticks wrapped in cloth, she was still painfully thin and emaciated. She wore a Victorian-style black dress, stiff with lace and black pearl beading. A chatelaine jingled at her left side, the iron chains and attachments barely contrasting with the cloth. Amelia could identify a bottle and can opener, a corkscrew, a notebook, and what was probably a rasp or file. Probably for the hag's nails, which she had to grind down to a convenient length regularly. There was an ebony comb, as well, although the waitress had her hair done up in a severe bun on the back of her head, with what looked like a large bodkin as a hairpin.

"Oooh! Beans on toast, please! And an apple squash?"

"Of course, sweetling! Brandy to ... warm the drink?"

"No, thank you!"

Amelia watched as the lady went behind the bar and spoke into a cone projecting from the wall. It was an old-fashioned speaking tube, and Bert connected the sound to the kitchen back in the cottage. Tyni was keeping busy, what with feeding everyone living in the cottage complex, running the café, and now servicing the pub. He was having the time of his life.

Ashlee returned a few moments later, a pint glass in hand. It bubbled with carbonation, and condensation was forming around her pale hand. She deposited it on the low bar table near the sofa, on top of a napkin she slipped underneath first.

"Thanks! How's it going? Getting many customers?"

"Wonderful, sweetling! Wonderful! So many succulent visitors! So ... fleshy and ripe!" A string of drool started to drip from her lip, and she wiped it off self-consciously. "But no feasting! No tasting! Only serving, and talking. So much talking! So many words! So many years trapped in that place, sweetling. Talking is precious!"

A thump sounded from across the room as the dumbwaiter slid into place. The hag fetched the steaming plate of food and added it to the table with the drink, a fork carefully placed next to it.

"Great! Glad you're enjoying it! Anybody from the hollow come by?"

"Oh yes! Miss Anni came by for a pint. Our Peg and our Nelly dropped by for cards with that Mr. G and his mother. Mr. Ainsley just left, and a few others been in as well."

"Really? That's awesome! I wasn't sure if ... uh ... our people would be comfortable coming here."

The hag nodded, then glanced around the dim interior. "Miss Beige and Mister Blue vouched for the place, but they needn't have, sweetling. We've all been lonely for so long, it's good to have a place to socialize. That dwarven brandy doesn't hurt, either." She had to wipe off another string of drool at that thought and slurped disgustingly.

"Yeah. Taste's pretty good, and works great for paint stripper as well. I tried to tell him you could water the stuff down a bit, say something weak like 60 ABV, but he wouldn't hear it." Amelia shrugged. It was good alcohol. It was better when someone taught you the trick, which was inhaling, drinking, then exhaling hard. That way, the potent fumes didn't crawl down your throat and try to rip your lungs out. You could even enjoy the flavor that way if you were still sober enough at that point.

"Any trouble from Mr. U or ravens or anything?" Amelia asked with apprehension. Beige had chased the man in his magpie form, but apparently he managed to get away somehow. Which was impressive, if a bit frustrating.

The hag let out a dry chuckle and brandished her short, but extremely sharp fingernails. "No, more's the pity, sweetling. There was a drunk chav couple, but they weren't any trouble." She grinned, her sharp, piranha-like teeth shining in what little light there was inside. "They ... decided not to bother us anymore."

"Okay. Good. We want it nice and peaceful in here, so people can relax. Good work! You need anything? Can I do anything for you?"

"Thank you, sweetling, but everything is fine. Thank you for coming by!"

Amelia ate her lunch as Ashlee returned to her duties, happily wiping down surfaces and keeping the place tidy, jingling as she moved. It had been a wild impulse she'd had to invite the woman to work in the pub, but it had turned out well. It seemed that many of those living in the hollow, while secretive and private, were happy to get out and socialize on their own terms. Miss Annie had even volunteered to teach a shop class, which was going well with the kids. Not quite as popular as Pancake's classes, but still well-liked.

After eating and saying goodbye, Amelia popped through into Sandy's shop. She had been worried how well the shopkeeper and Ashlee would get along, but they had quickly become close friends. Sandy's love of toffee, and eagerness to share, had been a good point to bond over, and it turned out the two ladies had other things in common as well. Amelia had caught them giggling together a few times, but when pressed, Sandy just turned red and wouldn't explain. Which was entirely too much like Pancake and Briar. Sometimes she felt left out even by her friends, but suspected she wouldn't enjoy their humor, so it was just as well.

"Alright, Sandy?" she called as she was almost bowled over when Shock charged into her for lickies. Even though relatively small, the black dog had mass, and Amelia stumbled back, before kneeling down to give scritches and loves to the pooch.

"Alright, love? Be right out!" called Sandy from the back room, before emerging moments later. She was carrying a box of products to restock, which she perched on the counter for the moment.

"Had lunch next door and just wanted to drop by and say hi! Anything good going on?"

"Not really, deary. Nice having the pub, though! Already had some passers-by drop in for a pint, then wander in here and buy some crisps for the road. That was nice!"

"Any problems? Any sign of that creepy guy, or anything?" Amelia asked, still worried that Mr. U would make another attempt on her friend or the shop. Sandy hadn't seen the second confrontation with Mr. U, having partaken a wee too much of Tuuka's finest, but she had seen the nasty man the first time, when Shock had peed on him.

"Nope! Our little darling would see him off if he came back, I'm sure!" She gazed down at the hyper puppy. Shock had figured out the portal system, and also that Sandy was more than happy to spoil her rotten, so she'd been spending considerable time on this side.

"What's that you have in your mouth? Out! OUT!" She pulled the tiny mannikin from the dog's jaws. Strangely, it was completely undamaged, which was highly suspicious in itself. The puppy was deleterious to all things they'd let her chew on, and the only thing she hadn't destroyed was Whisper, who seemed to enjoy playing with the hound. The figure looked remarkably like Mr. Unpronounceable himself, down to the miniature homburg on his head. When she blinked, Amelia could see a very faint glow emanating from the doll, and what looked like a glowing thread that extended from it and off into the ether. A single, metallic-blue hair was carefully wrapped around the head.