Amelia watched Briar and a group of others puttering around in the garden. There was always work to do, from weeding, watering, adjusting supports, and so forth. She'd offered to help, but Briar had shooed her off after Amelia had gotten in the way a few too many times. The fussy goblin had a large bunch of student assistants who seemed to be vastly more useful at the moment. Amelia enjoyed gardening, but she didn't exactly have a green thumb. Much of the current work was fiddly details that required long concentration, which was not her strong suit. Amelia bounced off it, no matter how hard she tried. Her mind wandered, and she mangled plants or buried seedlings. It was the same problem she had had with so much of her schoolwork--trying to focus on what somebody else wanted her to think and do. Her brain just rebelled sometimes. With tremendous effort, she still managed to attend most of Lark's lessons, although she'd been truant more than she should have been. Those took up what little mental room she had for learning, so she'd long since stopped attending Briar's classes. So for now, she just watched.

There weren't many other people about at the moment. A few hikers had passed through, as well as a few patrons of Tuuka's take-away window, but besides the gardeners, none of the other inhabitants seemed to be outside in the immediate area. Since most of the workspaces and amenities had been moved to Elara or into the warrens, not too many people came through this way anymore. Those who lived deeper in the hollow usually used the portal to the pub in the trilithon clearing, instead of wandering all the way to the cottage area. The yard used to be a frenzied hub of traffic, but it had gone back to being a peaceful refuge for the most part.

It was quiet, with just a gentle breeze rustling some leaves and a few birds chirping off in the distance. The sun hadn't gotten too hot yet and rain wasn't currently threatening. The perfect day to laze about on the cottage porch and watch others work.

Amelia eventually pried herself out of the comfy chair on the porch, stretching for a moment before returning her empty mug to the service window.

"Thanks! It was lovely!" she told the elk who was working the counter. He nodded in acknowledgment while she struggled to remember his name, before just smiling and waving as she moved away.

She looked down at the paving stones that led from the counter area and back through the trees to the iron gate at the front of the hollow. It had been quite some time since she'd gone that way, now that there were so many shortcuts from here into Eldertown. It seemed like only the other day when she'd used the scythe to clear out all the overgrowth in the clearing, back when the cottage was just a tiny one-room shack. The wood had been wilder, the clearing barely even noticeable with all the brush and weeds that had been here back then. It was a far cry from how it currently looked.

Amelia marveled as she looked around, mentally comparing what she saw with what she remembered from when she first got here. So many changes! The yard was huge now, almost a park in itself. The grass was neat and tidy, no weeds or shrubs intruding. The trees that ringed the area were tall and straight, branches arching out to provide shade, but not block passage like they used to.

She remembered how hard it had been just to make it this far when she first arrived. It had been positively unwelcoming! Now the path from the front was wide and even, easy to walk through without having to stoop over or snake around obstacles. It even felt more level, although as far as Amelia knew, they'd never done anything to change that. Bert must have done that. He still went out of his way to anticipate what would make life easier for Amelia, which was nice, if a bit surprising sometimes. He frequently came up with things that she wouldn't even have thought of, such as fixing the path or tidying the trees.

"Hey, Bert! Thanks for all the hard work you do, buddy! Don't think I've mentioned that recently!" she called out impulsively. It occurred to her that she hadn't had a good chat with the core recently. She'd been spending all her time working with Elara and Donald since the twinning festival a few weeks ago. They'd annexed several additional chunks of Whimsy as more villages accepted their protection, like Bury Ardith had. Getting all that sorted, while also trying to straighten out all of Elara's dungeon organisation issues, had kept her occupied.

[Acknowledged.]

The reply was brief, but she could feel the satisfaction in Bert's voice. He seemed to enjoy being quietly helpful, especially when some subtle nicety was finally noticed.

Amelia was slowly learning the personalities of each of the cores. It was a challenge when you only spoke with someone, never actually 'meeting' them. It would so help to put a face to the voices! She imagined that Bert would be a youthful, mousy young man, shy and eager to please. Maybe with dark hair. Big round glasses, probably constantly pushed up on the nose, like Timon had to do. Sweater vest, loafers. Actually, now that she thought of it, Bert and the crocodilian were similar in several ways! Which made her add a clipboard (with pencil on a string) in her mind's eye. She smiled.

Elara would be a frazzled middle-aged lady. Probably slim from constantly rushing about and forgetting to eat. Clothes not exactly frumpy, but a little too conservative. Definitely someone who would give you a frenetic, overall beige impression. With a tired smile and eyes a little dazed and distracted. The sort of person who would always have a half-dozen partially drunk mugs of tea scattered around their vicinity, constantly forgetting they had one already and fetching a new one when they got thirsty. Her hair would be sliding out of the bun on the back of her head, wisps fanning out in a halo as she moved.

Donald was just as distinctive as the other two. Amelia had had many heart-to-hearts with the unplaced core. He seemed considerably happier with her since she bonded with Elara and started working with the villages in Whimsy, especially with their anti-mind control chocolate project. He'd long since given up on the "expand your realm" and "unleash" demands. She hoped that was a good thing. He was still a bit curt, though. The picture in her mind was of a decrepit old man, long gone hairless, wrinkled, and grey. Dressed head to toe in black, so everything except his venerable face was indistinguishable. Sitting, maybe in a wheelchair. Or on a throne, more like. Stern and fierce, with a steely gaze and strong set chin. But once you got to know him and saw through his tough, crotchety exterior, you could see the crusty, murder-hobo inner self, disguising what she hoped was a soft, gentle, and caring side. Which probably concealed more anger and vindictiveness, but there was no fixing some people.

It helped to have the little caricatures to picture when she communicated with the cores. The fact that they were directly connected to her brain was unsettling enough, so putting 'faces' with the voices made it a bit less odd.

Hah! When Amelia first arrived here at the cottage, she'd been expecting magic and wonders. She remembered thinking this was the type of place where she'd see someone like Mr. Tumnus or Fenodyree and Durathror. It had tickled her fancy as she tried to stifle the terror of an unknown place and new situation. Now she knew not just Pola but several other fauns, and so many dwarves and goblins you wouldn't even believe! It was hard to keep track of all her new friends sometimes. She'd even taken to writing names and brief descriptions down so she could keep track but kept misplacing her list. Luckily nobody seemed to mind if she forgot a name or two. So far. The faces were easy enough to remember, though. Or, well, the physical forms. Everybody was so memorable! How could you forget meeting a Rakish or Miss Annie, much less a Sar or Zoe? In her life before, Bill would have been a notable acquaintance with his geeky ways and odd dress, but the man seemed so normal now he blended right in.

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

"Hello? Excuse me? Are you deaf?"

The gruff, petulant-sounding voice startled her from her revery. Amelia realized she had been standing in the center of the yard, gazing at the huge multi-storied cottage as her mind wandered. It took her a moment to find the speaker, who was in front of the portal to Whimsy, instead of on the path to the front gate as she'd expected.

"Hi! Can I help you?" she managed to respond as she took in the couple in front of her. They were dressed for travel, complete with backpacks and walking sticks. That wasn't odd, but they were obviously not from the mundane realm. The equipment and clothing styles would have given them away if nothing else did. Amelia tried her best not to squee out loud.

The koala grimaced before continuing. "Would you point me to someone that could help? We heard we could find a room for the night, but there doesn't seem to be a front desk. Or any signs about rooms. Terrible organisation. What a disgrace!"

The koala's companion, a hulking panda, looked like it was trying to disappear, drawing his shoulders in and hunching his head down in embarrassment.

Amelia stifled her impulse to snatch up the tiny marsupial and hug him. That might be considered unprofessional. It was a tough urge to beat, though.

"Um, sure, we have rooms. I don't think we've had any visitors that planned to stay. I mean, just to visit and not live here. That is, did you mean to live here?" she asked, confused.

"Just visiting. Fortunately." The koala snorted, then guffawed. The panda shuffled his feet.

"Sure, sorry. You guys just caught me daydreaming, and I'm a bit out of it. I'm Amelia, the caretaker. Follow me, you can have one of the rooms here in the cottage. They're all empty right now." She waved them to follow as she started turning towards the front door.

"Not so fast! We like to get business done first. What'll it cost us? We don't want to get comfortable then find out you want the sun and moon for us to stay!" He had a surprisingly deep voice, at odds with his minuscule size. His eyes were scrunched up a little like he was steeling himself for the unpleasant job of haggling about money.

"Free, unless you want to pay. Or do some work or something." Amelia responded, stopping to look back at the pair, who hadn't budged.

"Free? C'mon, what's the catch? Nothing's free, young lady! Are you sure there isn't someone else we could talk to? Maybe your boss, or parent?"

A flash of annoyance crossed Amelia's face, but she squished it down. Just because somebody looked cute and cuddly, didn't mean they acted that way.

"Sorry, I'm in charge. No catch, honest!"

The panda reached down and patted his companion's back, then tried to nudge him towards the door. The koala planted his feet and leaned back, resisting.

"Nonsense! How can it possibly be free? How do you stay in business, girl? What are you hiding? Explain yourself!" he grumped. "No, never mind, you are clueless. Fetch your manager. I'll speak to them instead. I'm a personal friend of the owner, and I don't deal with the help. Run along now."

Amelia became aware of the audience watching from the garden. They were crunching on sunflower seeds that Briar was passing around, not wanting to waste time fetching popcorn. The goblin waved cheerily and grinned, winking at Amelia's discomfort.

This had started out as such a nice day, too!

"Um, sorry, but friend of what owner? Gran?"

"Silly girl! Friend-of-a-friend, anyways. I'll be telling Reginald about how terrible the staff is here, and he'll tell the owner, you mark my words!"

Amelia squinted at the little furry ball of indignation, the koala's finger shaking vigorously in her direction. "Reginald? Merchant, boar, flat cap, little cart? Hangs out with a wolf named, um, let me see, Donblas? No, Domingo? No ... Domas! That the one?" That was the pair she'd met on her first visit to Whimsy. They'd been camping with Tuuka, Tyni, and Picker just outside the Night Market. Ages ago! Like a few months even!

"The very one! So you better hop it missy, and apologize for your impertinence! Before I get you sacked! The nerve! I'm sure they could find better help if they would bother trying." The koala crossed his arms and huffed in annoyance. "We'd better get a good discount after this treatment, I'll tell you that much!"

Amelia looked at the panda, who managed to look mortified and contrite at the same time. He shrugged and raised a paw in silent apology, mouthing "Sorry!"

The loud cracks of sunflower seed shells could be heard from the garden area, along with some muttering which sounded suspiciously like bet taking.

Amelia squinted at the rude koala briefly, wondering exactly how to handle the situation. Politeness wasn't getting anywhere, but fireball seemed like it might be a little extreme. Besides, the panda seemed nice, just with a poor choice in friends.

"Honestly! What are you, simple? Move!" yelled the little furry beast, moving as close as possible to Amelia and glaring. It would have been significantly more intimidating if he was taller and less cutely rotund. He barely reached her knees, and his furious shaking caused his hairy paunch to jiggle ludicrously.

Amelia tried to hold back her giggle, but failed, tittering then spitting as she couldn't contain herself any longer, laughing as she covered her mouth.

"Well! I NEVER! How dare you! How DARE you! Why ... I ... you ... !" he spluttered. He lashed out at her leg in a slap, but his sharp claws snagged on her trousers and ripped them. He didn't seem to notice, so apoplectic, his eyes were bulging.

The murmured betting in the garden intensified.

Amelia skipped back as the koala lumbered awkwardly after her, still trying to slap her. She could tell he was no trained combatant, but those claws were sharp!

"Larry, stop! That's uncalled for!" the panda finally pled, his voice high-pitched and quavering. He tried to grab his partner, but the little fellow was having none of it. "Miss, I'm so sorry!"

"You cow! How DARE you laugh! I'll have your job for this!" Larry spluttered, still trying to slap Amelia as she dodged back easily.

"Larry, control yourself! Please!" whined the panda, finally getting between the caretaker and the enraged fur ball.

"You! Taking her side? How could you!" The koala gritted its teeth as it balled up a tiny fist, pulling it back to punch the huge panda.

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

"These chips are great! You sure I can't pay you?" asked the panda, stuffing another fistful into his mouth.

"Aren't they, though? They're a real hazard around here, let me tell you! Tyni makes good stuff! And no, it's on the house. Least I could do, after ... you know ..."

They both looked over at the petrified koala, fist rigidly outstretched, face in a rictus of anger. He was propped up on a table in the shade of the gazebo, completely unmoving.

"You sure he's gonna be okay?" the panda asked, looking with concern at his partner.

"He'll be fine! We did some experiments after the first time I used that spell. Won't even know he's been out! Like it never happened. Pretty cool, but a bit freaky."

"Huh! Darnedest thing! Thanks for not smiting him or anything. He's ... well, he's not always like that. But sometimes he's just a little monster. I'm not sure why I stay with him sometimes." He shook his head in shame. With a guilty look, he furtively whispered, "Can ... can you keep him frozen like that for long?", then covered his mouth with both paws at his own audacity.

Amelia winked and pushed the chip basked towards him. "My pleasure! I'm sure the break will do you both some good!"

The panda seemed to relax a bit, then smiled. "I'm Marko, by the way. Are you really just the caretaker here? That's some kinda power you got, no mistake!"

Amelia nodded as she finished chewing. "Yup. Here, anyways. I'm only the dungeon master in Elara and for Donald. He isn't placed, though, so that one's a bit tricky." She dipped another chip in the little paper cup of brown sauce before taking a bite.

Marko choked suddenly as the import of her words hit. His jaw dropped, a few partially masticated bits of fried potato falling out.

"You ... you're ... conquered ... Night Market! ... Whimsy! The ... the bringer ... dark ..." he stuttered in shock.

"Bringer of dark chocolate? You've heard about that? That was just a joke for the festival, how funny! Other snacks and candy available as well, of course! At your service!" Amelia made a mock bow from her seat.