“Shit...”

  The weak, crimson fme burning in the palm of Krvavy’s hand sputters and dies as her mana runs dry.

  “Don’t ya worry, my dearest love,” Beryl calmly reassures, nimble fingers gliding over the bck scales on the back of her lover’s wrist. “The exit is just ahead.”

  The barbarian’s response comes in the form of a simple grunt. She is more than a little annoyed that her mana couldn’t st just a minute longer. Not that they really need her fme this close to the exit. The light in the distance is enough for them to see general shapes, and each step only makes it easier to make out more and more.

  The sunlight is almost blinding as Drakling and Elf emerge into the outside world, free from the confines of that rocky ruin. Krvavy’s eyes sting, leaving her squinting and repeatedly blinking as she adjusts to the harsh rays of the warm afternoon sun.

  “Ah’m sorry, my dearest love.” Beryl solemnly sighs, reaching out and grabbing onto her bow, lifting it off the stone hook it had been left on.

  “Ab–” Krvavy cuts herself off with a light cough, bringing the waterskin hanging off her loincloth’s belt up to her lips and taking a long drink of the leathery tasting liquid within. “About what?” She repeats, her throat feeling a lot better now.

  “This little adventure o’ ours was... a bit o’ a mess.” The Wood Elf woman scowls and shakes her head. “And tha’ is my fault. Ah didn’t properly prepare fer it. Ah should’a told ya wha’ Ah ‘ad pnned. Ah should’a brought the ntern wit’ us. Ah should’a looked around more ta find out wha’ kind o’ monster we’d be dealin’ wit’. There is a lot Ah should’a done...”

  “It’s alright. Just... be a bit more open next time.” The barbarian pats her tanned tomboy of an Elf on the head. “You can still have surprises, but you don’t need to keep them a complete secret. Bringing the ntern along wouldn’t have spoiled it. After all, you did say that we might not get back home before the sun sets, so I would have just assumed that’s why we would’ve been carrying it around.”

  “Aye, Ah’ll keep tha’ in mind.”

  Krvavy leans down to give Beryl a kiss, but pauses before their lips meet. A worried frown finds its way onto her face. “Are you feeling okay after... well, you know, after the slime grabbed you?”

  “O’ course.” The tanned tomboy easily replies, a beautiful smile gracing her lips. “Why’re ya askin’? Not tha’ Ah don’t appreciate yer concern~.”

  The Drakling’s eyes drop down for a split second, before lifting back up to meet her Elf’s questioning gaze. “It melted your pants.”

  “Wha’!?” Beryl calls out in surprise, looking down at herself in shock.

  Her tight leather pants are absolutely ruined, full of holes that grow in size as they travel down her legs. The once tight leather has been reduced to little more than a tattered web of sinuous strings around the Elf’s shins. And Beryl’s boots aren’t in a much better state either, looking more like a pair of half-broken sandals, but at least their soles still seem to be solid enough...

  The Elf gingerly pokes her tanned skin through one of the holes, wincing ever so slightly at that tiny bit of contact. “Ah’m a bit sore, but its not tha’ bad... Likely just lost a few yers o’ skin ‘ere and there, but not enough ta be noticeable ta the naked eye... Though maybe Ah do look a bit pink...? Kinda ‘ard ta tell after everythin’ was red fer so long...” She softly trails off, shaking her head. “Ah’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

  Krvavy lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. With that worry out of the way... she can’t help but be a little pyful. “Such a shame, what happened to them.”

  “Aye, my arse looked great in these pants, aye~?” Beryl smiles back, knowing exactly what her Draconic lover meant. “Ah can always cut them off above my thighs. Or maybe ya’d like it if they were just short enough ta hug my cheeks but leave everythin’ else bare~?”

  With a ugh Krvavy leans in and cims her Elf’s lips, giving Beryl a quick kiss. “They’re your pants. Surprise me~.” She pyfully orders.

  “Gdly~.” Beryl grins widely and warmly, accepting that challenge. A tinge of uncertainty enters her expression. Her beautiful blue-green eyes trail off to the side, looking past Krvavy and towards the cave that they just came out of. “Ah do ‘ope tha’ ya enjoyed this little adventure o’ ours... fwed as it was...”

  “I did, I did.” The barbarian immediately reassures her Elf, grabbing onto Beryl’s hand and leading her away from those buried ruins. They have quite the hike back home, so no point in loitering here while the sun is still high in the sky. “Sure, it could have been better, but it wasn’t bad by any means. I would have been happy enough just spending the day with you.”

  A light blush colours Beryl’s tanned cheeks. “Thank ya.” She earnestly replies, locking her nimble fingers with those of her lover. After a couple seconds, almost long enough to be an awkward pause, a pyful gleam fshes into her gem-like eyes. “But ya wouldn’t ‘ave gotten any loot if it were just a hike.”

  “True, true.” Krvavy casually nods. “The quartz itself has hopefully made this whole trip worth it. Not to mention that I levelled up and got a new spell as well.” She quickly allocates her stat points, dumping all five into Composure. “Still need to level up again for that trait though...”

  “Tha’ spell... Did ya come up wit’ it on the spot?” The Wood Elf curiously asks, tilting her head and quirking her brow. Her question gets answered with another nod. “It was quite impressive, and Ah... Ah can’t thank ya enough fer savin’ me...” Her blush grows just a bit brighter as she mutters out that st bit.

  “I couldn’t just stand around watching you get eaten. I had to do something, and if that didn’t work... I would have tried peeling it off of you with my bare hands if I had to.”

  “Ah don’t doubt tha’,” Beryl quickly replies, “Ah’m just surprised, is all. Ya got it on yer first try, and in... less than ideal conditions.”

  “I wasn’t really thinking.” Krvavy admits with a shrug. “I just did what my instincts told me to.”

  “Well, ya are a dragon, after all.” The tomboy pyfully smiles back.

  A comfortable silence descends on the Drakling and her Elvish lover, interrupted only by the sounds of Krvavy’s footsteps and the wind gently whistling through these hills.

  With all of that talk of her new spell, Krvavy’s curiosity demands that she takes this chance to actually look at its description. She hasn’t exactly had a chance to do so before now.

  Bzing Breath: Fire magic coalesces within your throat, bursting out with Draconic fury. Costs 25 Mana per second of use. Associated attributes = Charisma & Insight.

  It is... kind of affordable? At least for how powerful it seemed to be, as it pretty much vaporized that slime in a few seconds. That said, it still costs too much for her to just use all the time... But either way it is a pretty cool spell and Krvavy isn’t going to compin about being able to breathe fire, even if she won’t be doing it very often. Not until she can get some more mana...

  “We’ll ‘ave ta go back there at some point.” Beryl suddenly says, drawing Krvavy from her thoughts.

  “Thought you didn’t want to fight those slimes?”

  “I didn’t want ta fight them unprepared.” The tanned Elf corrects the pale barbarian. “But we will ‘ave ta purge them. We can’t just leave them be. Slimes are... they’re a parasite, a scourge. If left unchecked they will devour everythin’ around ‘ere, pnt and animal alike. They’re far worse than any Rock Bear.”

  “Alright.” Krvavy easily agrees, as while the slimes were rather annoying to fight she isn’t going to turn down a good source of experience. “We’re not in a rush to do that though, are we?”

  Beryl thinks for a moment before responding. “Probably not, no. Ah don’t know ‘ow many are down there, but... it could be years before they’re truly a problem. Or a few months. Or decades...”

  “That’s good...?” The barbarian idly replies, giving her head a bit of a shake. Hopefully these slimes don’t become a problem for a long time, as it’d be nice to farm them a little bit. It would be great if she could kill a whole bunch of them, leave and let them replenish a bit, and then repeat that process again and again...

  “Mmnph...” Beryl makes a slightly uncomfortable noise, leaning down and softly rubbing the sore skin of her shin.

  “You good to walk in those?” Krvavy gestures to her Elf’s ruined boots.

  “Aye, they’re holdin’ up well enough. But,” the tomboyish Wood Elf’s eyes twinkle pyfully, “ya can always hold me up if they break, can’t ya~?”

  There isn’t much light left in the grotto by the time they finally return home, lured up past the tempting hot springs by the firepce and the smell of freshly cooked dinner.

  “We’re back!” Krvavy calls out as she steps through the doorway into their bedroom.

  “Arwhoo~!” Khalia immediately howls out in joy, jumping up from the moss padded bedding and unching herself at the barbarian.

  Staggering back slightly, Krvavy successfully catches her Orc puppy, hugging the green-skinned woman as her face gets covered in long loving licks.

  Thea just groans and rolls her eyes at the sight, doing her best to ignore their return and focus on the chess-like board game in front of her. Not that her focus means much, as Inanna moves a single piece and immediately wins the game, causing the silver-blonde brat to make an unhappy noise as she begins to reset the board.

  “Good girl~!” The barbarian ruffles her Orcs hair as she settles down on the ground, bringing Khalia into her p. Sliding the backpack off of her shoulder, Krvavy calls out to her Dwarf. “[Hey, Inanna, we found some stuff you might want to take a look at.]”

  Inanna turns away from the slightly annoyed noble girl just as Krvavy pulls one of the worn hilts from its pouch.

  “[Do you know what kind of metal this is?]” The barbarian asks, handing it over to the Dwarf.

  The grey-skinned woman rubs her thumb across the tarnished pommel, closely inspecting it. “[Mmm. I believe it may be electrum. An odd choice for a sword, unless it was simply decorative or had been heavily enchanted. Not something I’d expect you to find on a hike.]”

  “[That was kind of a lie, a poorly thought out surprise on Beryl’s part. We really explored an old ruin.]” Krvavy expins, lips spreading into an almost teasing smile. “[We found a few of those hilts, but also a bunch of these!]”

  The barbarian pulls a rather corroded metal bar from the backpack, pcing it down on the ground.

  A slight look of disgust fills the Dwarf’s face as she looks at the sheer amount of rust ying in front of her. “[That is in a rather... horrid state. Why did you bother taking it?]”

  Krvavy shrugs her shoulders. “[There was space in the bag, and we figured that you could do something with them.]”

  “[I can’t. At least not at the moment.]” Inanna replies in her normal neutral tone, before her thick brows furrow slightly in thought. “[May I make a request? I would like to construct a workshop for myself. Preferably over there.]” The Dwarf points behind her, out though the rge windows, across the switchback path, and towards the other side of the cavern.

  “[Sure.]” Krvavy easily agrees. It isn’t like anything important is over there. “[Would you need any help with that?]”

  “[Yes and no.]” The Dwarf answers. “[We have plenty of bricks ying around that I can use, and seeing as how we are in a cave I will not need a roof anytime soon. That can be added ter, when you are less occupied with your own construction. Until then, I will simply need a handcart and the pickaxe, if you don’t mind. Perhaps a small bridge as well, to cross the river that leads from that far cluster of hot springs. I could build one myself, but that would take more time.]”

  “[Okay. We can go over this some more tomorrow, and I’m sure that Beryl can help you make some sort of cart.]”

  “[Thank you.]” Inanna politely bows her head, dipping it down ever so slightly. “[Is that all?]”

  “[Oh, no. I saved the best for st.]” A fairly smug smile works its way onto the barbarian’s face as she begins to unload a few quartz crystals. Without the red light of her fmes, they all look to be white or completely colourless.

  “Don’t forget ta tell ‘er tha’ those grew out o’ a corpse!” Beryl forcibly states, nudging Krvavy in the side.

  Inanna raises an eyebrow and cautiously looks at the crystals, as she knows enough of the nguage by now to generally understand what the Elf just said.

  Krvavy sighs out and gently shakes her head. “[They were growing in the vague shape of a body, on what was probably a bed. In a prison cell. I couldn’t see a skeleton or anything inside the crystals, and if there was a body it would have rotted away thousands of years ago. Probably before the quartz even started growing.]”

  That seems to assuage the Dwarf’s concern, as she picks up a chunk of quartz and begins to inspect it without even the slightest worry. “[Mmm. The milky crystals are less than ideal. Their imperfections make them less efficient, and considering how they might have grown...]” Inanna lightly shakes her head and picks up another. “[This clear quartz should be perfect for holding mana though. I can’t see any imperfections at gnce.]”

  “[That’s good.]” Krvavy happily states, proud that she decided to bring the crystals home. “[I barely took any, so there are way more still in the ruins. Especially if there are other ‘bodies’.]”

  “[I presume that there is more to collecting these crystals than simply finding them ying around?]” Inanna correctly guesses, before tilting her head towards Beryl. “[I saw the state of your Elf’s pants, before she took them off. That wasn’t normal wear and tear.]”

  “[Yeah, we did have to fight some slimes.]”

  “Mmm.” The Dwarf knowingly nods. “[They can be quite annoying to deal with.]”

  “[Oh? You’ve dealt with slimes before?]” Krvavy curiously questions, leaning forwards and pressing her breasts into Khalia’s happy face. Which earns her an affectionate nibble.

  “[Not personally, but they aren’t uncommon beneath the mountains.]” Inanna states, before sighing slightly. “[It is a constant struggle to keep them out of our water system. It is never pleasant when one pours out of a tap.]”

  “[Does that happen often?]” The barbarian idly wonders, as her fingers run through Khalia’s hair, causing the Orc to make various little happy noises.

  “[No.]” Inanna simply shakes her head. “[And when it does happen, it is usually one of the more harmless varieties. Most types of slimes cannot survive being submerged in rge volumes of rapidly moving water, let alone make it past the defences and checks.]”

  “[Sounds like you know a lot about them.]”

  Inanna shrugs her shoulders. “[I suppose. Slimes aren’t particurly complex. They are typically colour-coded, after all. What colour were the ones that you fought?]”

  “[Couldn’t tell.]” Krvavy replies with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “[My fme just made everything look red.]”

  “[Mmm...]” The Dwarf’s expression is completely neutral as she lightly hums out in thought. “[That is unfortunate. Knowing a slimes colour and environment reveals what they consume and what they are more resistant to. It is, perhaps, the most important piece of information to know when dealing with them.]”

  The barbarian frowns as she continues to absentmindedly pet her Orc puppy. Not knowing the colour of those slimes isn’t the end of the world, but it is kind of frustrating...

  “[We can talk more of this some other time. It is te, and you should eat.]” Inanna states as she turns away.

  Krvavy opens her mouth to respond, but cuts herself off at the sound of her stomach rumbling. And before the barbarian can even say anything, Beryl hands her a bowl of stew. Well, she is hungry, so might as well eat while the food is warm.

  “[You sure you’re ready for this?]”

  Inanna stares up at Krvavy, her copper-orange eyes piercing through the barbarian. “Yes.” She slowly replies in the Common tongue. “I have a solid enough grasp on this nguage by now.”

  The Dwarf’s odd accent is thick in her voice, but her words are clear and easy to understand. The way she speaks is rather dry though, and frankly it makes her sound really boring. Inanna carefully considers each word to make sure she is saying the right thing, and while that isn’t exactly a bad thing to do, it does mean that she talks almost like a robot in a slow and curt manner.

  Hopefully that’ll change, in time.

  Krvavy stares back for a few seconds, before reluctantly nodding her head. If this Dwarf really wants to lead their little tour, then so be it.

  Inanna returns the nod before turning towards Thea and Beryl, cpping her hands together once to get their attention. Which isn’t exactly necessary, as both women were already looking at her. “The plumbing system is mostly complete and the toilet is now functional.”

  “Uh, yeah? We know that.” Thea dryly replies, tapping her foot in annoyance. “Do we need to waste our time with this ‘tour’?”

  “Girl, mind yer manners.” Beryl immediately reprimands the silver-blonde brat. “They’ve worked ‘ard ta make this, so showin’ some patience is the least ya could do. And don’t act like ya ‘ave anythin’ better ta do.”

  Thea grumbles wordlessly at that, but she stops her compining and doesn’t argue back.

  Ignoring that disruption, Inanna turns around and steps towards the hot spring pool. “Through this doorway lies the pump. Do not mess with it. It is less than ideal, and could use much in the way of improvements.”

  The bratty girl’s brow furrows, clearly not all that impressed with how rough that sounds.

  “As a limitation of its current design, the pump must always be active.” The Dwarf pauses for a moment, gesturing just past the doorway, at the part of the pool of water where it touches the cave wall. “The unused water is currently sent into this pool through a few jets just below the waterline. It will weaken when the water is in use elsewhere.”

  “It is quite nice.” Krvavy interjects, running her fingers through her Orc’s hair, keeping Khalia distracted and quiet. “It feels a bit like a massage.”

  Inanna simply nods as she turns around once more and walks back towards the pathway, passing by Thea and Beryl. Set into the wall is a new doorway, leading into a dark room. “This is the... washroom. It is not fully finished, and we are still working on installing proper lighting, but it has a functional toilet, a sink, and a shower.”

  “Just one toilet?” Thea asks in a bratty tone, getting a scolding gnce from Beryl.

  “At the moment, yes.” The short grey-skinned woman slowly replies. “We wanted to ensure the design was perfect before... making more.”

  With that said, the Dwarf bends down slightly and picks up the ntern, flicking it on. “Follow.” She steps through the doorway.

  It is a bit of a tight fit with all of them standing inside the room, which is quite clearly still in the process of being excavated. A fact that Thea so graciously avoids pointing out. No matter how much she obviously wants to.

  Inanna gestures to the right of the doorway. “Here is the shower. Currently, it only runs hot water.”

  “How does it work?” Beryl curiously asks, stepping down into the slightly indented area set into the wall.

  “The more you turn that knob, the more water will flow through the spout in the ceiling.” Inanna replies after a couple seconds. “Ideally, when we have the cold water line set up, another knob will be added and the temperature will be controlble by mixing the two.”

  “Can Ah give it a try?” The Elf asks, getting a nod in response. “Ahh~!” She jumps slightly as water begins to rain down on her. Steamy mist immediately begins to fill the shower alcove as Beryl runs her hands across her svelte and athletic body, her tanned skin glistening in the ntern light. “It is quite ‘ot, but rather nice beyond tha’~! It’s like Ah’m out in the rain~! Much more gentle than a wa’erfall~!””

  Thea rolls her eyes at the sight. “Ugh! Can we just get this over with already?”

  “So impatient!” Beryl chides the silver-blonde brat, shaking her head slightly as she twists the knob and turns the water off.

  Inanna seems to take that as a cue to continue her tour, stepping back and gesturing to the left of the doorway. “The sink and toilet are over here. The sink functions much like the shower does, and will ideally be connected to the cold water line as well.”

  “Is that not a little high for you?” Thea asks, sounding a bit less annoyed and more curious. “And way too low for this big lout of a dragon?” She adds, looking at Krvavy.

  The counter that the sink is set into reaches up roughly to Thea’s ribs, so while it would be fairly comfortable for both her and Beryl to use it would be considerably less convenient for the Drakling or Dwarf. Inanna would have to reach up to around the height of her shoulders, while Krvavy would need to bend down as it is just a bit below her hips.

  “It is a... proof of concept.” The barbarian defends the sink (that she built). “We might make others at different heights ter on. But it’s not too much of a problem right now. Inanna has a stool.” She points towards the Dwarf, who is currently standing on a block of stone that makes her head roughly level to Thea, proving that point

  Standing on her stool, Inanna reaches out to the sink and turns the water on for a few seconds, before shutting it off again. With that brief, and kind of unnecessary, demonstration of the sinks functionality the Dwarf steps back down to the ground, pushing the stool beneath the counter. She then gestures to the wall across from it. “And finally, here is the toilet.”

  Sitting in the middle of a spacious stone cubicle is a rather blocky toilet. It is little more than a thick oval raised up from the ground with plenty of space beside and behind it, ensuring that Krvavy’s meaty tail has somewhere to go when she is to sit on it.

  “The tank is up there.” Inanna points up at a block that slightly protrudes from the wall around the level of Thea’s head. “The extra height allows for gravity to aid more in flushing, and allows for those of us with tails to sit more comfortably.”

  Thea gnces sideways at Krvavy, the only one of them with a tail.

  “Ideally, there would be a door on this stall for extra privacy, as well as a seat and lid for the toilet itself. But stone is not the best material for those, for obvious reasons.” The Dwarf states, before looking at Beryl. “Wood would be better.”

  “Aye, Ah can ‘elp wit’ tha’.” The Elf answers the unasked request.

  Inanna nods, while reaching out and flicking a lever. “This flushes the toilet.” She states as the water swirls and drains down the hole, before slowly refilling again.

  “Is this all?” Thea asks with a bit of condescending disbelief. “How did it take you so long to dig out this little room?” She asks the barbarian in a less than polite manner.

  “Where do you think all of these drains go?” Krvavy dryly returns.

  “Ugh, whatever!” The silver-blonde brat dismissively waves her hand as she turns to leave, stopping herself in the doorway and gncing back. “Are you finally going to get started on building our bedroom now? And the proper bathroom up there?”

  “Soon.” The barbarian pinly replies. “I’d like to expand this a little bit more first. Add some lights, make it a bit more comfortable. We are going to be using it quite a bit, you know.”

  Thea just rolls her eyes and mumbles something under her breath as she walks away.