“Oh wow, just the smell of coffee resurrects you.” Melody teases.

  “Mmm, gimme.” I grab at the cup, sip and moan like I was teased into it. “Marry me Melody. Just keep making me Coffee for a thousand years.”

  “A tempting offer, but I will hold out for a better deal. Perhaps one that includes a larger bed.”

  I nod at that and sip my coffee then kiss her cheek. “Thank you for being a morning person, and for breakfast. I have plans, as soon as this cup kicks my brain.”

  I lied, it took a second cup, but Melody just smiled at me and I took that as her contentment. “I wanted to ride your property on Freckles to see what I can . . . leverage? Is that bad?”

  “Not at all. Signing it over before asking would be though. I want to, nay, need to go to the cave today. I’m out of aetherite I can grind, so I need more. Cannot be dissuaded.”

  “Can I send someone with you?” She asks.

  “Can I kill them if they wander off?”

  “Have fun on your expedition, message me every hour?” I chuckle at her ‘concession’.

  “You got it, hon.” I hug her.

  “Are we dating now? I am suddenly confused about the work and the kissing.”

  “Just now!? Lady, I . . . nevermind. I would like that to be true, but dating to me means being open. Can you be open with me?”

  I see the look in her eyes that briefly considers asking about mentally or sexually.

  ***

  “No, Tanner, you’re just receiving. I’ve already paid. I just need to know you can take that much coal.”

  “Oh! A ton would fit in a horse stall. I can definitely manage that. Besides, though, I’ve been wondering.”

  “Tanner, I’m okay with you moving you and your fiancée in, but I can’t afford more housing.”

  “Oh! That’s okay! As long as I can modify one half of the barn. Half of the stalls, eight in total, should be enough for your coal, storage, and your ore.”

  “You know what kid? If you want the whole barn, build me a bin shed and keep two stalls for horses and you can do the whole thing rent free. Just rent on the farm land.”

  “DEAL!!!” Shit kid, don’t sell your soul for fucks sake. He tries to hug me, but I plant a hand on his shoulder to prevent it.

  “Alright, I expect an invite to the wedding. Also, we’re looking to have a ranch house in the near future. They shouldn’t stray to this side of the river, so let me know if they do.”

  He nods. “I gave you my expected deliveries and paid you for then next three months yes?”

  “Yes Lady Frost!” He’s buzzing with excitement, but actively restraining himself. He dances off into the house and begins on whatever is on his agenda.

  “He’s already spreading the word that I asked him not to do, isn’t he.”

  “More like he’s talking about his generous patron and wants to start a village. You should let him. Tribe leader Zhantsa could be interesting.”

  I hook Melody’s waist and bonk her head with my own head. “I think this is why I got the warning. People want change and it is available. I have the land, the leniency, and a lady that knows how to run a business.”

  “Zhantsa, I. I like you, goddess do I like you, but I want to get back in the Guilds graces for my retirement.”

  I frown at her, “Is that based on nostalgia or objectivity? Money or connections? Because as I see it, you’re going to make more with me in five years than you could make in half a century with the Guild.”

  She scoffs, turns away, looks at me and scoffs again and leads Freckles towards the shop she built for me. “Help me brush her?” Melody asks and I do so. Afterward, I follow her closely up the stairs to my apartment and close the door behind me.

  “You know I stand to make you more money than the Guild in the years to come?”

  “I do, Zhan,” oh shit, I love that, “But I want to rise in the Guild until I can make changes.”

  “I understand, but what if you, as an Elf and my business associate, and companion, made inroads with the Sky Trolls?”

  She punches me in the leg and paces a circle in the living room. “That is a terrible and hard decision.”

  “The Empire nor Skyreach have contacted me, so there is no true ultimatum yet. I’m not asking you to take sides, I’m merely asking you to wait.”

  I fully know that this decision will color her future, but I’m not about to reveal that manipulation. Goddess does it feel filthy.

  “I’m with you, Zhan. Goddess this is terrifying.” She shudders and sighs into me as we sink into the borrowed sofa.

  “Then start building a territory with me. Tell those ranchers and farm hands that they have jobs and bring them in.” I smile at her and pull her in my lap.

  “After that, you’ll still trust me with this?”

  “Melody! Goddess, I swear you’re as dense as me sometimes! You came with me, you sided with me, you’ve not miss-spent my considerable wealth and I have a crush on you. Yes I want you to do this with me.”

  “As long as you’re delusional or sure.” She smiles and I pat her damned pretty face.

  “If you’ve got a plan, I want to see what you want as much as you want to see what I want.”

  “Zhantsa, you can’t be accommodating while I am accommodating. It’s maddening!”

  “Fine, I’m going to bite you and tear your clothes off when we get up stairs. A simple ‘no’, ‘stop’, or similar phrase will stop me. If you say nothing and walk through the door, your body is mine.”

  She says nothing until we get to the door: “No punctures.” I growl and smile and pick her up bodily as I surge into my apartment.

  I may or may not have lost some time to channeling rage for sex reasons.

  “Zhantsa, talk to me. I , shit , I want this , but only if you’re here with me.”

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  I look down at her absolutely destroyed clothes showing me her pale skin and surprisingly voluptuous form. I had no idea that Elves could be this curvy.

  “I’m here, and I want to eat you in a fun way.” I smell a surge of warmth and scent come from her.

  “You are a menace, and while I look forward to returning . . .” She talks a lot, my lips and tongue are impatient for her breasts. “Goddess, Zhansta just don’t break me so I can have my turn.”

  I devour her with her permission, leaving her barely conscious to lick me comfortably to sleep. She fell asleep first but seeing the confident Elf rest her head on my pelvis for the night gave me the most pleasant dreams.

  ***

  I wake to a mouth on my clit and I climax in seconds.

  “FUCK!” I exclaim and clinch around the body near mine.

  It takes a few more seconds to realize that Melody is the culprit and pull her up for a kiss.

  “Eew, Zhan I am messy.”

  “Messy with me. You’re pretty hot right now.”

  “Okay, freak. I’m off to shower and start the stove. Join me?”

  I’m too sleepy to sex the Elf, but I do appreciate her fit body and perhaps set a hickey or two while I recover my awareness.

  We’re halfway through eating breakfast before either of us speaks.

  “Zhan, what does this change?” She asks as I serve her breakfast and coffee.

  “Nicknames, cooking for each other, possibly public displays? Like, please don’t ask me not to kiss you in public?”

  She chuckles and flings a chunk of pancake at me. “Not what I meant! Are we lovers, dating, like more than that, or . . . Elves have more levels I am not ready for.”

  “Melody. Are we more than friends now?”

  “Fuck you Zhan, not funny.” I chuckle madly, as though that was the best joke.

  “Did that, loved it. Would do again. Lovers is fine, dating is great, but I want some claim to my dame, lady.”

  Melody snorts, “You are basically an old man you cavernous twat.”

  “That is contradictory!” I exclaim as I tackle her. I may also smooch the cutie.

  She shoves me off and moves toward the bed area and finds some of my clothes to put on. I climb back to table level, pour a cup of tea and shamelessly watch her put on some of the clothes she bought me. This place was exceptionally well stocked.

  I take her place by the dresser and find some rough-spun, but durable looking cotton clothing to put over my Guiseppe-made underwear. I check my braid’s integrity and grab my pack and head for the door.

  “Mind giving me a ride to the farmhouse on your way out?”

  “Sure thing. Do I need to give you money for the thing’s you’re going to arrange today?”

  “I shouldn’t need it, but if anyone responds to my messages and arrives before you get back, I can foot the bill and you can pay me back. Oh, how do you feel about logging?”

  That’s a question I’ve never been asked before. “Try to stagger the logging? I want the forest to be able to recover from what we do to it.”

  “It might not be necessary. I just know that the Guild was going to pay for part of the ranch facility, and now that they aren’t, we need to find ways to lower the costs.”

  “I trust you. You more about all of this stuff than I do anyway. Oh!” I pull one of the vials I made to show to Melody as I didn’t get a chance to show her yesterday.

  “This looks well made, well done. To think you’ve only been at this for a month.”

  The compliment feels so good. “I brought some knowledge with me.”

  “I wouldn’t keep in loose in a backpack though,” she says as she hands it back.

  “I’m not worried. I’d actually like to test how durable it really is.”

  I see confusion on her face, but I just smirk, waiting for her to inspect it. There it is, the wide eyes, mouth slightly agape.

  “Of course you stumble on another ridiculous thing. Is this some Traveler knowledge thing?”

  I waggle my hand, “Kinda. I know what kind of crystal the aether crystals are, and I know that glass uses powdered versions of it to make the molten form more elastic. Anyway, since I can imbue stuff with aether as part of my class, I figured that charged dust would change the properties of the glass. After several explosions, I came up with that.”

  She sighs again and rubs her temples.

  “Did I say something stupid?”

  “No,” she shakes her head, “it’s just that you casually told me you know a simple way to make aether dust, which is an expensive, regulated substance. I don’t have the bandwidth to look into that today. Just don’t let it out that you can do that, alright?”

  “Yes ma’am.” I feel a little ridiculous about how precious these people think corundum is, but I guess that it’s more about the fact that it accepts and stores aether so well. I lock that away for later and try to remember that anything to do with putting aether into things is probably important in some way.

  I’m reminded of enchanted items and healing potions and that both are pricey. Makes sense. I’ll have plenty of time to consider these things while I labor in the cave.

  Melody gives me a hug before hopping out of the cart and I continue on, skirting the foothills until I get to my cave. There were some tight spots were I had to have Freckles back up and work the cart around a bit, but the way seems passable. If not, cutting down three trees would make it much easier. I have her pull up to the cave entrance and unhook her from the cart and tie on her feed bag.

  After some brief horse care I delve back into my resource mine and feel a twinge of loss in thinking of Leeda and how she should be here. Armed with a pick, hammer and wedges, I assault the nodes I marked that I know are renewable.

  ***

  Soaking in the humming aether in the crystal node is soothing, though I wonder what happens to this space if it turns into a dungeon.

  It will be preserved. The location in the space may change, but as long as you control it, this room will exist.

  I sigh with contentment. It’s nice to feel your presence Alaris, thank you. I get the feeling that she’s pleased at my acknowledgement, but I know that’s the last I’ll hear from her in a while. It does make me wonder when she’s going to give me another memory upload.

  Not a whisper. Darn.

  I fill a sack full of crystals of various sizes and swim back to the shore on the other end of the tunnel. I should make a little basecamp here, like a sleeping cubby with a chair and a table or something. Not that I’m prone to scratches or anything, but lying down on somewhat slimy stone is unpleasant.

  On my way back to the cart with a sack full of crystals and a backpack full of rocks and metal, I get a message from Melody.

  \It’s early afternoon and I’m wondering if you intend to come back tonight?\

  /I’m so sorry, time has gotten away from me down here. I have one more thing to gather here and then the ride back, so maybe two and a half hours?/

  \I’ll make sure to take some produce to your apartment for dinner then.\

  /If you need to head back to town, I’d understand, you know./

  \Nonsense. This way, I get a cute Troll heater and I get to steal your horse tomorrow so I can get back to work. I’ll explain when you get back.\

  She needs to get herself a horse. By the size of her house, she can certainly afford one. I had wondered when she would go back, but apparently a day off of work after that disastrous meeting is all I get. I suspect Melody dangled commerce in front of the Guildmaster in Marcrest, or the banshee liaison left town.

  My last trek is into the mushroom column and pick another sack full of those to experiment with, not near as many as we harvested last time. Then again, I don’t have an organization to fence these things for me right now. I should talk to Melody about that too.

  Freckles is lying next to the cart when I walk out and she gets up as I toss the last load in the cart. I hook her back in and walk with her back to my farm. I’m a little later than I expected—its another fifteen minute walk from the farmhouse to my workshop—but I messaged Melody to tell her that so I shouldn’t be in trouble.

  Melody’s waiting outside with two buckets, one is obviously full of munchies for Freckles, but the other one, I don’t know. She walks up and hands me an empty bucket.

  “The trough is empty. I’ll take her tack off while you get her water.” I nod and saunter off to the river that’s less than a hundred meters away. Three trips later I set the bucket down and she hands me a brush. We work on cleaning Freckles up as she eats.

  I don’t know if Melody is playing coy, or what, but once she closes the door behind her, I turn and give her a solid smooch because damnit it’d been all day.

  She pushes my cheeks back and smiles wickedly, “I was wondering how long you could wait.”

  “You were testing me? No, no. I’m not taking this bait. If this is a ploy to get me to cook dinner to avoid whatever this is, it worked.” I walk toward the chill box to avoid whatever knowing look she’s giving me.

  Twenty minutes later, she finally folds and wraps an arm around me while I’m cooking. “What’re we having?”

  “Tonight? A salad. Tomorrow, these beans that you brought will be great with eggs.”

  “Salads aren’t your thing, troll-face,” she says, but I know she loves them.

  “I’ll survive. It’s why I’m making the beans, honestly, so I can have them for the next few days without just slapping dead animals in front of you.”

  She sticks out her tongue in disgust. “When you say it like that it’s worse. Is it weird that I feel better about eating clams and things without faces?”

  I snort at that. “Yes, because they are still animals, but just because I don’t get it, doesn’t mean I don’t respect how you feel.”

  She slumps over my shoulders and steals a root stick from the fry pan. “That was sappy.” Her tone is soft, caring even, and she holds me just a little bit tighter.