The cracks appeared in Gus's granite skin during breakfast preparation. Fine lines spreading like a map across his surface, glowing with the same light as the inn's foundation stones had during their temporal visit.

"I'm fine," he insisted, continuing to arrange flowers even as small pieces of stone dust drifted down from his shoulders. "It happens every few centuries. Just need to... rest a bit."

But when he tried to take a step, his leg locked in place. The nearest flower vase shattered as he caught himself on the table.

"This isn't normal weathering," Lady Corvina said, her quill racing across paper as she documented the spreading patterns. "These marks... they're like the protection runes from the original foundation. The ones we saw in the past."

"Gus," Pip said carefully, watching more cracks appear, "how long have you been with the inn exactly?"

"Since before it was an inn," he answered, his voice grinding like stones in a riverbed. "Since before it had walls. Since before—" He stopped as a particularly bright crack spread across his chest, illuminating ancient symbols carved into his core.

Felix played a gentle note that made the symbols glow brighter. "These look like anchor points. Like you're not just in the inn, you're part of its fundamental magic."

"Because he is," came a new voice. They turned to find a woman standing in the doorway, her stonemason's apron covered in the same kind of dust now falling from Gus. "He's the cornerstone that lets it wander."

"Master Mason Wells," Gus rumbled, trying to bow despite his increasingly rigid state. "It's been... a while."

"Three centuries, four decades, two years, and five days," she replied, running a practiced hand over his cracking surface. "About time for a reformation, I'd say. Though you weren't supposed to wait quite this long."

"Reformation?" Pip asked, as her aunt's notebook began filling with urgent notes about golem maintenance and magical foundations.

"The price of permanent transformation," the stonemason explained, pulling tools from her apron that seemed to be made of pure magic. "When the inn learned to wander, it needed an anchor that could wander with it. A foundation that could move. So we had to change its guardian accordingly."

Gus's cracks were now glowing so brightly they could barely look at him. "I made my choice," he said firmly, despite the grinding sound in his voice. "Just like the inn did."

"Yes, you did," Master Wells agreed, laying out her tools. "And now you need to make it again. Every few centuries, the magic needs renewal. The choice needs reinforcing. The transformation needs... remembering."

The inn creaked ominously as more of its guardian began to crack and flake.

"But this time," the stonemason added, looking at the team gathered anxiously around their friend, "you don't have to make the choice alone."

"Every golem has a core purpose written into their being," Master Wells explained as she traced the glowing cracks in Gus's stone skin. "Most are simple: guard this, protect that, maintain whatever. But Gus..." She smiled fondly at her ancient work. "Gus chose to complicate his."

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"When the inn decided to wander," Gus ground out, holding still as more fragments flaked away, "it meant leaving its foundation. Its anchor point. Its..."

"Its heart," Felix finished, playing a chord that made the cracks pulse in rhythm. "You became its portable foundation."

"More than that," Lady Corvina added, her quill barely keeping up. "You became its mobile memory. Its walking history. Its-"

"Its constant," Pip said quietly, reading from her aunt's notebook. "The thing that let it change while remaining itself."

Master Wells nodded approvingly. "Exactly. But such a transformation requires upkeep. Renewal. A regular remembering of why the choice was made." She pulled out a chisel that seemed to be made of starlight. "Usually, we do this alone. The reconstruction of purpose is intensely personal. But this time..."

"This time the inn needs all its anchors," came another voice. They turned to find the First Chronicler's paper form assembled in the corner, pages rustling with urgency. "The paths between are becoming unstable. The wandering ways are shifting. We need every foundation we can trust."

Gus tried to straighten but more cracks appeared. "I won't... abandon my post."

"No one's asking you to," Master Wells said gently. "We're asking you to share it. To let your purpose grow, just as the inn's has."

Felix began playing a melody that caught the rhythm of Gus's glowing core, the harmony of the inn's magic, the resonance of their shared purpose. Lady Corvina's feathers shed tiny motes of light that settled into the cracks like mortar. Pip found herself reciting welcome spells that made the fragments shimmer with renewed strength.

"Well," Master Wells said, her tools beginning to glow, "shall we remind you who you chose to be?"

What followed was both destruction and creation. As Gus's old form crumbled away, they could see the magic at his core - not just protection runes, but chronicles of every guest he'd helped, every change he'd supported, every moment he'd kept the inn's heart steady while its body wandered.

The stonemason's tools danced, rebuilding him with stone that seemed to flow like water. Felix's music became architecture, Lady Corvina's chronicles became reinforcement, and Pip's welcome magic helped reshape his purpose - not just foundation, but family. Not just anchor, but companion.

When it was done, Gus stood straighter than he had in centuries. His granite skin now held swirls of other minerals - traces of everywhere the inn had been, everyone it had helped, every change it had embraced while keeping its heart intact.

"How do you feel?" Pip asked.

Gus flexed stone fingers that moved as smoothly as flesh. "Like myself," he said. "Only... more so."

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Guest Book Entry: "Master Mason Wells: Some foundations must be renewed to remain true. Some guardians grow stronger by sharing their purpose."

New Verse of Felix's Inn Song: "In stone that flows and purpose grown, Through change yet standing true, The Last Stop Inn keeps faith with those Who help it start anew..."

Lady Corvina's Chronicle Entry: "Historical Reconstruction Event witnessed! Golem reformation process documented for first time. Note: Core purpose magic shows remarkable adaptive properties. Additional Note: Gus's original protection runes now integrated with inn's wandering magic in previously theoretical configuration. Final Note: Have never been so moved by basic maintenance procedure."

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Later, as Gus arranged flowers with his newly flexible fingers, Master Wells pulled Pip aside.

"The reformation came just in time," she said quietly. "The wandering ways are becoming... unpredictable. We'll need every steady heart we can trust, every foundation that knows how to move without losing itself." She glanced at Gus. "Keep him strong. The storm that's coming... it will test every anchor."

That night, as the inn settled around them, Pip found new words in her aunt's journal:

"Some guardians protect by standing still. The special ones protect by showing us how to change safely. Keep him close, dear heart. The paths ahead will need his particular kind of strength."

Gus's new form caught moonlight like memories turned to gems, each facet a moment preserved, each crack now a channel for growth, each ancient rune renewed by modern purpose.

"You know," he said, arranging one last flower with perfect precision, "I thought renewal meant returning to what I was. Instead..." He touched the wall, and the inn hummed with familiar affection. "Instead, it means becoming more of what I chose to be."

The inn creaked in agreement, secure in the knowledge that its heart, though transformed, remained true.