My AAI interface blipped off then back again as I crossed the estate grounds. I decided it was time to check my messages; I hadn't done so for over an hour. The one I was expecting – Jasna's – wasn't there, which I realized probably meant she was far more upset than I originally thought.

I mean, I did literally ignore her advice about who to trust and went off with the man responsible for her uncle's death. And I didn't really think about it too much. Why would I do that? Skill or Cap or something?

On my walk back to the inn, I composed at least five different iterations of a message trying to explain my side. Finally, I ended up with a rather simple one. [I'm sorry. That wasn't fair to do to you. I'd like to talk when you're ready.]

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #23: Sometimes the simplest apology is the best. Make it sincere but also make it clear you were in the wrong. No explaining, no diminishing.

Skimming over the increasingly irate messages from Katarina – none of which were really anything more than the adult equivalent of a child's tantrum, trying to downplay what she'd done or explain it away – I looked at those from Gabor and Tiesa and surprisingly a few of the Councilors.

Uros sent me a packet of information about who of the other Councilors was negotiating side deals with other cities – including a rundown of their kickbacks to said Councilors – and recommendations on what terms to change for maximizing my benefit.

When did he have time to compile all this? We were together essentially from the second we left the Hall of the Council.

It felt like Aleksandra Podlipa held a grudge against Pitola. She offered me access to her contacts for squeezing as much out as possible from her former city. There was something driving the offer that I wanted to investigate further.

Marko Azarov, Nina Asani, and Teodor Bondar all had ideas as well. None of which seemed worth entertaining, at least when I was so bone-deep tired.

Gabor's messages were more supportive but started to get slightly frantic that I hadn't responded so I sent a message to let him know I was okay. My response to Tiesa was more contrite but explained I did what I thought was best to in order to ensure my and Steve's safety. I needed to know who I could trust and it was apparent that wasn't Katarina but it was Tiesa, Gabor, Jasna, and probably Risto, Vana, Tilda, and Nikolaj.

And definitely not Uros.

The cool night air did little to soothe my racing mind. Even Steve managed to wake up from my arm cradle to bop me on the nose – on his fifth swing – sending a feeling of shutting my brain up through our bond.

I sent a message to Vana asking if she'd draw a bath and deliver food to my room when I returned so it would still be somewhat hot after getting clean.

[Incoming Message from Vana Soroka: You know I'm not your maid or your mother, right? Extra silver added to your tab just for the indignity of it all and then another for the tremendous amount of labor you are putting on me. You better be good for it!]

I laughed softly at her good-natured ribbing.

If there is one thing I can count on, beyond seemingly being dragged into some crazy kind of intrigue on a daily basis, it's the humor of Vana and the attempted humor of Gabor.

A tear of mirth slipped from my eye at the thought of his response to that. Of course, that caused me to not look where I was going and I bumped into someone on the street.

Tilda gave me that mischievous smile of hers and kicked me in the shins before walking off with nary a word.

The bath was a wonderful reprieve and, instead of dealing with my racing mind, I listened to music and zoned out, gently cleaning Steve and staining the water a rich tapestry of colors and scents; my bond had far more food around his face than I noticed.

I was toweling off, feeling considerably better, when I received another AAI message. [Incoming Message from Vana Soroka: Boy, just what the jebbie do you have in that box below your bed?]

A cold shiver ran through my spine.

Well, shit.

***

Meeting Vana on the stairs, she gave me a look I couldn't quite interpret.

One of slight anger and reproachment but also curiosity? Underneath it all, I think there's weariness there too.

"I'm turning things over to Elda for the night and then we're gonna have a chat. Understood? Now get some clothes on, those robes aren't known for staying securely tied and I want to focus on the conversation. You hear me?"

"Vana, can we do this tomorrow?" I asked, trying to inject the bone-deep weariness I was feeling into my tone.

"Absolutely. You just need to take your stuff – all of your stuff – and find a different place to stay the night. No? Then I'll be up in <five minutes>. I mean it about the clothes. If I see a snake peeking through the grass, that's a one gold charge. You're cute but I draw the line at that."

She moved past me gracefully and I heard her engage with some guests in the common room on her way to Elda.

I wolfed down a significant amount of the food – much to Steve's indignation and chagrin – and changed as quickly as I could.

Trying to gameplan what I would say, despite all my experience with impromptu meetings, didn't work. All the events of the past day and a half came crashing down like a giant sitting on my shoulders and I knew it would be a challenging conversation to say the least.

A soft knock came at the door. Breathing deeply, I opened it slowly.

Vana gave me a fake smile and said softly, "Room inspection. You've been here long enough, time to check it out."

She pressed me backwards, moving past me fluidly to quickly shut the door. At my quirked eyebrow, she held up a single finger telling me to wait.

A ball of silver and black with lines undulating across it in a gentle pattern materialized in her hand.

Well, if she's here to kill me, she's played the long game well.

[If I die tonight, it was Vana. She knows about Gabby.] I sent off a potentially final message to Jasna as Vana set the ball on the floor and pressed the top of it.

The message failed to go through.

A gentle light washed over the room, illuminating the innkeeper in a soft gray glow as a slight humming noise started to emerge from the ball.

"There. Anti-sound and scrying orb. Shuts down AAI communication too, though thankfully not translation. It's pretty iffy on recording but don't go doing that if you know what's good for ya. And I'm letting you know, what's good for ya is not testing me further. Will be an absolute kurac to recharge so know that this is important," she sighed, nodding at the orb.

"Want to tell me what you were doing snooping in my room?" I asked, hoping I could get her on the defensive.

Vana snorted. "Snooping in your room after I delivered food. You answered your own question didn't you kurac-for-brains?"

At least she doesn't seem angry? Maybe just concerned. Oh god, is she going say she's not mad, just disappointed?

"Fair point. Shouldn't have let you into my room unattended. That was a mistake on my part. It's been a long day." I sighed and gestured for her to take the chair while I sad on the bed. She'd be at a slightly higher angle to look down on me but I was used to that after the meeting with the Council.

"So, what do you think you found below the bed?" I asked, hoping she just knew it was magical.

"I'm wondering if you even know what it is. What it really is."

"I don't. Why don't you tell me?"

Last ditch effort here.

"I was a delver, and a damn good one, in my past ya idiot. I delved more than my fair share of dungeons. Yes, literally more than what I was supposed to but those are stories for another time. That there is a core. But you knew that. What else do you know about it?" It felt like she was trying to bore holes into my skull with just her glare.

"Uhh, that's it," I said lamely. "I knew I could deploy it and delve it myself to make a ton of money but didn't want to share that. So I snuck it back here."

"Stop. Lying. To. Me." She paused between each word, her face getting closer to mine. Then she popped out of the chair to lift the lid off the box. "Gabby, want to tell your idiot friend here about our conversation, brief as it may have been?"

Uh oh…

"Oh yeah, I like Vana way more than you. Jasna is okay but kind of boring. Why aren't you nearly as funny as Vana?"

Vana fixed me with a steely gaze, though there was a hint of mirth at Gabby's ribbing. "Yes, I can hear her too. Of course I went snooping. I'd do it to a regular guest. I don't have sticky fingers but do have an overactive imagination. There is so much going on with you, I expected to find something a bit more salacious here, especially given what Cornelius is famous for. So a lead-lined box under the bed? Not even a lock on it? I mean— yes, you have a rude interruption?" she asked as if without a care in the world.

"There absolutely was a lock on the box. Jasna wouldn't have gotten a box without one," I replied, somewhat confused.

"Well, that thing didn't count!" she bellowed with a laugh. "Was through it with the kit I carry around for everyday use in a matter of seconds." She patted her hip before getting serious again. "Anyway, as I was saying before mister big shot here rudely stopped me, I had to see what was in the box. Can't blame an old girl for being curious what a guy like you is up to. Always so straightlaced and all that, must be something fun. But nope! It's a jebbie-ing dungeon core!"

"Ooh, tell him about what you started doing!" Gabby added excitedly.

"I was just getting there my young and lovely friend. So, of course, I'm wondering how the hell you have a dungeon core. They are rare and just destroying one without approval is a death sentence. Taking one? Now that's a very prolonged death sentence. And it's not like you could have simply found a damn core on the street or something, you've been watched almost every second since you arrived. So of course, I started probing it, spiritually and, I'll admit, physically in a rather invasive way. Again, sorry dear about that," she said turning to the glowing core in its box.

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"Yeah, not the best introduction. Buy a girl a drink first! Or at least feed her some essence-rich bodies, ya know? But it's okay. You good if I tell it from here?" Gabby asked.

"As long as you give him the appropriate amount of grief and sass, I am amenable."

This is not going to be fun.

"Well, of course I let the examination go on for a quick second and tried to contact you but you were out of range. I could tell you were close but—"

"Lead-lined bathroom," Vana said simply. "Prevents creeps and snoops. Sorry to interrupt."

"Ohhh, that makes so much more sense. I thought maybe he was just too stupid to notice. I mean, he probably is but that wasn't the only issue. Anyway, as she basically gave me a full 'gray alien' scan – luckily I do not have anything to physically probe, at least in this form – and was muttering to herself about destroying me, I realized the jig was up. So I says to her, I says."

Gabby put on a funny voice. "You better be thinking of bringing me flowers and chocolates as an apology for what you just put me through. That isn't how you treat a lady without a proper date. About as pleasant as a wasp stinger through the guts. And I'd know, I've done it to multiple people!"

Vana cackled. "Of course, nearly sodus-d myself. Of all the kinky things I thought you'd have, a captive dungeon wasn't one. I'm more than familiar a certain kind of 'dungeon' exists but this was not what I was expecting."

Both Gabby and Vana started laughing maniacally. Steve made a screaming sound to try to join in and I just sighed.

Longest night of my life? Well, second longest. The random 'we need to present these numbers tomorrow in a way that is completely different and also obfuscates how bad we are actually doing but is still legal or at least not outright illegal' request at 7pm from a startup exec was probably worse.

I shook my head to bring myself back to the present.

"So, does this mean you aren't going to destroy Gabby? Or hell, me?" I asked tiredly.

Isekonsultant Tip to Thriving #24: If you are dead tired and at the mercy of an irate innkeeper, just ask the question you're dreading. You'll get fast relief either way, whether that is death or a joke.

Okay, I am way too tired to be adding anything to my tips…

"Heck no, why would you even suggest that! She can source me so much tasty meat on the cheap!" Vana let out another laugh and then realized I was actually being serious and took a breath, making prolonged eye contact. "Look, this is a big potential problem. Like as in they'll kill you across a few months just to make a point to others level big. But she's actually fully sapient, sentient, whatever. And she's funny. This is a problem but I'm not going to murder her."

We spent the next fifteen minutes discussing, with both Vana and Gabby 'helpfully' throwing verbal jabs at me the entire time, before Vana offered a potential solution.

"My whole house is warded pretty darn well. Better than the box or the bathroom. I could take her and she'd be able to absorb more ambient essence, get back to full vibrancy, – sorry girl but your sparkle just isn't entirely there – and be better protected."

"I'm not making a call without Jasna. And obviously Gabby has a say in things too."

"Fair, bring her here during the late morning or early afternoon tomorrow and I can slack off for a bit for a chat. Bring the box to my place though, I don't have a second sound and scry blocking orb and this one will take at least a few days of my full attention to recharge." Vana stood up and nodded to me and then leaned over to say something only to Gabby with her head fully in the box. I felt and heard Gabby's mirth as the woman picked up her gray ball, pressed a button that caused the light and humming to subside, and left.

I stripped down to get ready for bed and looked at my messages again.

[Your Message was not sent. Would you like to try again?] I selected no and brought up my notes app, this time in my AAI instead of on the tablet as I laid with my head against the pillow.

Time to update my priorities lists…

***

A rather insistent knocking woke me suddenly.

Wasn't I updating my notes?

Ignoring whoever was at my door momentarily, I opened the app in my mental interface.

[Get scanned – how to trust merchant?

What to do with the items in my ring?

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Apparently, I had fallen asleep almost immediately and all my thoughts were even more jumbled than before my slumber.

"At least I got some good sleep," I mumbled blearily, heading for the door.

"Open the door Terry. Steve's appointment is only <12 minutes> from now and we need to get going," Jasna's angry muffled voice came through the door.

Without thinking, I opened the door. She looked me up and down and I realized I was only in my sleeping pants. Jasna rolled her eyes and shut the door.

"Get dressed. I do not like being late. People get upset and it is easy to not upset them by being on time." I could hear the arm crossing in her voice somehow. I quickly grabbed an outfit from my storage bag on my hip and dressed, placating Steve who sent me feelings of being starved to within an inch of his life.

"Good. We do not have time for food. This is your fault. You can explain to Steve." She grabbed my elbow and started leading me downstairs.

Vana handed me a heaping bowl and a glare. "That bowl comes back undamaged and cleaned. Understand? If not, I'll take it out of your backside. And no, I don't care that doesn't make sense. And then you young missy. We have more to discuss later today." The innkeeper stalked off back to the kitchens.

"I'll explain later. Can I at least feed Steve while we walk?"

"No, you will put your arms around my shoulders and hang on. I have to move quickly and I am the only one careful enough to not spill while we move at speed." She indicated for me to climb on piggy-back style and took Steve in one hand and the bowl in the other.

If I thought the princess carry to the woods incident was embarrassing, this was mortifying. Luckily I had a hood that I kept down but, given my size and who I was with, I knew many people would figure out it was me.

True to her word, Jasna didn't spill a single morsel of food and Steve seemed to love the wind whooshing through his fur.

We arrived four minutes early. I gave Jasna an annoyed eyeroll.

"Between me rushing you here and your actions last night, I think you are not in any position to do anything but grovel and thank me. But I want neither from you right now. If I could have, I would have brought Steve here alone."

I winced but nodded as we went to knock. We waited for 25 minutes in a rather awkward silence, only broken up by knocking every minute or so, while we waited for the door to open. The head healer was clearly already inside and we could hear her singing to herself and moving things around.

Finally, the door opened.

"Oh, you're here already. I do not expect delvers picking an early time to actually be here when agreed. Come in and place him on the throne please." With absolutely zero contrition at making us wait, Lenka, the head healer, let us in.

I expected Jasna to be upset but she seemed to just take that awful explanation in stride.

The 'throne' was an elaborate wooden contraption that had places dug into the wood for arms and legs of a human to go accompanied by pretty aggressive-looking straps, presumably to hold someone down while they struggled. For Steve, there was merely a brown pillow and a small bowl of fruit.

"Will we need to restrain him during the procedure?" I asked nervously. "Can you walk me through what you are going to do?"

She wheeled over a cart that had twenty glowing crystals arrayed across it. At my look, she ignored my actual questions for my implied one. "Rechargeable mana crystals. Cost an arm and a leg and are the worst to charge up but it will mean I can apply as much healing as his body will take rather than how much mana I have."

"Great, that's wonderful. Thank you. Now, will I need to restrain him during the procedure?" I asked again, taking Steve from Jasna's arms and placing him on the pillow, putting the bowl of fruit next to him. He sniffed curiously and started smashing random fruit – peels and all – against his face, trying to eat but with some difficulty. Jasna moved to help him while I focused on Lenka.

"If you do, it will significantly limit the healing as much will be transferred to you. Did you not bring restraints for him?" she asked as if that was a normal question.

Trying to contain my exasperation, I looked to Jasna for an answer. She pulled out a few strands of silk from her bag and handed them to the healer. At my look, she shrugged. "They told us what was needed when we brought him here yesterday. Tiesa and I planned to take care of it so why inform you?"

Lenka quickly tied Steve down and Jasna and I took turns tickling, petting, feeding, and in Jasna's case, singing to him. I sent feelings of reassurance through our bond as well so he was only mildly grumpy.

"This will take upwards of <twenty minutes> so you, keep him calm and you, watch the door to prevent anyone from disturbing us." She didn't look at either of us but Jasna immediately walked to the door after giving Steve a last reassuring pat.

Watching Lenka work was mesmerizing. As she started, her hands moved through a series of motions and emitted colors across the spectrum that would have any tripping raver admiring her finger work. She hummed a tuneless song, often going from high notes to low and back in a seemingly random order. Of her odd movements and actions, it was hard to know what was necessary, what was ritual, and what was merely for show to the clients.

The magic seemed to coalesce and Steve began to glow slightly, starting with the toes on his hind legs, his white fur turning first pink, then purple, then green, then yellow and finally back to a dark blue-ish purple that evoked thoughts of deep space for me.

Throughout, Steve chittered but not in alarm, almost like he was trying to hum along with the woman as the lighting effects intensified. The gleam emitting from my bond slowly worked up his lower body to his abdomen through to his face. I felt fascination rather than trepidation from Steve as the lights finally reached his eyes and the bulbous orbs started to glow, strobing through colors that were hard to describe and lasted mere milliseconds.

Steve started to send feelings of pain through our link and I tried to send reassurance back but I could still feel him struggling. His little feet and arms flexed and bent against the silk but Steve's body was held firmly in place against the pillow. He seemed to finally start to notice that his vision, however slowly, was returning and started excitedly chittering at the funny lights coming from his own face to dance across the woman in front of him.

All throughout, Lenka would pause slightly, reaching one hand over to her row of crystals while keeping her other hand moving in a rhythmic pattern. A crystal would dim and the lights emanating from her would return to full intensity as she replenished her mana.

I heard the door open and Jasna whisper something but the sound quickly faded into the background as I enjoyed the feelings of fear recede and relief and joy flood through Steve's emotions.

And then, of course, he moved his head and spotted food in a bowl to the side. Nothing else mattered for the final five minutes of his treatment, his concentration was fully focused.

Shortly after draining the second to last crystal for its mana, Lenka finally stopped moving and swayed backwards. I caught her under her arms and sat her down by the base of the healing throne. She gave a dirty look at my hand before giving a deep breath.

"Can I untie him now? He can finally see well enough to know where the food is."

"Whew, that took way more out of me than I expected. Yes, yes, you can untie him. Please give him to me. I need to run a quick check."

I quickly removed all but one of the silk threads, instead electing to untie it from the chair and let him keep that on his hand to entertain himself with.

After a few minutes of poking and prodding, including a few times I thought she was going to literally stick her finger into his eye, Lenka declared Steve had taken to the healing as expected and was reacting slightly better than what she'd modeled.

"So, does that mean he'll only need one more treatment?" I asked hopefully.

"No, still the 150 gold treatment and a final assessment but I'd estimate the final treatment will be maybe 95 gold instead of the 100 I quoted you. While he takes healing well, his essence channels are unusual enough that it took about 50% more mana than I budgeted. So he heals better but it's more resource intensive. Make sense?"

Ah, the old multiple variables have shifted but the outcome is essentially the same. Fun.

"Yes. By the way, any relation to Councilor Regina Vitola?"

Lenka snapped her eyes to my face, suddenly giving me a much more appraising look. "She's a benefactor of this house of healing, yes. Why do you ask?" Her voice was that kind of cautious that said there was something far deeper going on.

"Oh, just something she said recently. So, will his eyesight continue to improve before the next treatment?" I asked, trying to keep her slightly off balance.

"No. Ten gold to heal that pinky, five if you still have the digit relatively undamaged."

I raised my eyebrow but brought the pinky out of my storage bag. She snatched the loose digit and grabbed my hand, while placing her other hand on the last mana crystal. Before I could even say a word, my pinky was reattached and working fine. I brought out five gold coins which she made disappear into a storage item I couldn't see.

Giving me a dirty look, Lenka said, "Now, you are taken care of. You depleted my entire mana stock. I will need to call in people to refill the crystals and also reschedule a number of important clients. I have work to do and you have moving on to do." She turned as though that settled everything and started looking off into space, presumably using her AAI.

Jasna gave me a hand signal to follow her and I grabbed Steve away from the food bowl he was licking, grabbing Vana's bowl and carefully stowing it in my sack as I wasn't sure how my ring might treat it.

I stepped out into the intensifying sunlight of mid-morning, coming face to face with Jasna waiting a few feet outside the door. "Tiesa said we have to talk one-on-one. That's why she refused to come. I need to work on talking out my feelings apparently."

She started to roll her eyes and then stopped. I heard her mumble under her breath but didn't catch it. "You upset me greatly last night and we need to talk about it. I want you to hear how I feel." She let out a huge breath like that was the hardest thing she'd done all week.

"Let's go speak at the inn? Oh, I didn't send you the message last night but Vana uh… found out what was under my bed…"

"Oh, did you have some kind of embarrassing thing? Was it a sex thing or something childish?"

"Well, I don't want to tell you what it was but I will say it was in a lead box." I tried to emphasize the importance and luckily her initial look of confusion turned to understanding and then anger.

I held up a hand placatingly. "All is good, she just wants to talk to us. Well, the three of us, at her house. Let's go to the inn and collect my things to head over?"

Jasna scooped me up and my involuntary indignant noise was matched with one of excitement by Steve as Jasna ran us through the city. A few people yelled obscenities – or what I guessed were obscenities – but we moved so fast my AAI couldn't translate.

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