When he saw them, the foreman stood and waved them over, pounding his fist on the table in greeting.

  “This is War Priest and Virtuoso, eh?” He waved at Dee. “And the idiot one. Likes swimming in snow, eh?”

  I see my reputation precedes me.

  “This is Garth, he’s the foreman here,” Arjelica said.

  “We can’t pay for all this help,” Tianna said. She sat down and eyed the food and drink. Cooked meats, fruits and steamed vegetables were all piled up.

  The foreman tutted. “It’s all a gift.” He added something in Dwarvish, directed at Arjelica, who replied in the same language. She leaned forward to grab a plate of meat, and Dee saw a wide scar across her stomach.

  Tianna looked at him for a second to see if he was joking. He smiled again and nodded to the feast. Tianna grabbed nearby roll and shoved it into her mouth.

  “We would like to visit your shrine,” Emizra said.

  “Of course, you been adventuring! All our PCs left when we decided to cultivate this node.”

  “That’s what they do,” Arjelica said. She smiled at the foreman. Dee had never seen her look so friendly.

  “Wanderers. Like you. My Da was a PC,” the foreman said. He took a deep sip of his beer and stared into the distance, misty eyed. “Went back up north. He was a Trapsmith. I’ll tell you he could make a tripwire thin enough to detect a gnat farting. Great man. Not much for farming though.” He wiped a tear from his eye.

  “Dama’ll take you to our shrine. And then you must join our off-shift! Relax before you carry on.”

  He turned to Arjelica and started chatting in Dwarvish. She leant in and they carried on talking, laughing and sharing stories it looked like.

  Yuri pouted and tried to listen in, but it was clear she understood nothing. She picked at some food, then huffed theatrically.

  “Did you know Arjelica could speak Dwarvish?” Dee said to Emizra.

  “No, I didn’t. She keeps a lot of secrets. But this is one of the more interesting ones.”

  “What does he keep calling her? Suzu?”

  “Dzudzu. It means dwarf in Dwarvish.”

  “But she’s an elf.”

  “Of course she is. It’s one of their highest compliments. It just means brother or sister.”

  “He likes her.”

  “He respects her. He gave us all this help for free.”

  “Why?”

  “How should I know? Yuri and Arjelica adventured together before they met me and Tianna. Ask Yuri.” Emizra stretched out and popped a fat grape into her mouth. “Something Arjelica did really impressed these dwarves.”

  “You and Tianna started adventuring together?”

  “Sort of. You should ask Tianna. People don’t like me telling their stories. I much prefer to discover theirs.”

  Tianna was tucking into the food in front of her like a wild-woman, grabbing every kind of dish. Despite her small size she could certainly eat, especially if it was free. She didn’t look like she wanted a conversation right now.

  Dee’s stomach growled. He was starving hungry. He grabbed a meaty leg of something he hoped was a chicken and took a bite. Greasy and delicious. His mouth ached it tasted so good. He hadn’t eaten since before he fell asleep.

  Yuri came over. Her naked thigh rubbed against his arm as she sat down next to him.

  “Are you stealing my human?” she said to Emizra, but her heart didn’t seem into it. She kept looking over at Arjelica and Garth as she ate.

  “What are they saying?” she whispered to Emizra.

  Emizra grabbed a chicken leg in a leisurely manner. She stuck it in her mouth and then pulled off the meat in one strong pull. She chewed and swallowed. Then she licked her fingers daintily. Finally, she answered Yuri.

  “Nothing you don’t know already.”

  “Tell me!” Yuri clenched her fists.

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  “How she got that scar. Fighting the scariest beast of the Steam Jungle.”

  “Oh. I know that.” She slumped dejectedly. “Have you ever been to the Steam Jungle?” she said to Dee.

  “No. I’ve never been anywhere really.” In this world or my one.

  Yuri let out a long, theatrical sigh. “She never tells me anything about her homeland. I mean, she tells me about the monsters and terrible plants that eat you. But not about her family or the Elven clans up there. I’m an elf too, you know, no matter what they say…”

  She picked up a chicken leg, waved it in front of her face and then dropped it onto the table. She flopped onto her back and spread her arms wide. She was clearly too upset by this to eat.

  Dee patted her leg. “Never mind.”

  Yuri huffed, but sat up. “Thanks,” she said sulkily.

  Dee felt bad, but he didn’t know how to handle social situations at the best of times. There were no words he could think of to settle Yuri’s jealousy.

  But there was more food. There was a stew, thick and warm, filled with dumplings, and mountains of steamed vegetables. He spooned food into his mouth, non-stop, until he felt like he could eat no more. Eating a meal was another normal thing that he could understand. He didn’t have to worry about mana or secret passages when he was stuffing hot dumplings into his mouth.

  He realised Arjelica was staring at them as they ate. Dee wiped his face with a napkin, and tried to look civilised. Or maybe he should look more barbaric, that might impress her.

  Arjelica nodded her head to Tianna and Emizra. “Have you finished?” They both pushed their plates away.

  “What’s happening?” Dee asked. The girls all looked ready to leave.

  “We have to level up,” Emizra said. “Are you coming?”

  “Can I level up?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Emizra said in her musical voice.

  Garth waved for Dama, who accompanied them to the door. With the heat staff, he took them outside a short distance. To the dwarves’ shrine.

  “This is a shrine to Mellentine, their guardian goddess,” Emizra whispered. She didn’t have to whisper, but it felt right to be quiet.

  The shrine was a small building near to the front of the longhouse. Unlike the other houses, this was made of stone. A simple rounded structure, covered in detailed carvings of plants and animals. A great deal of effort and love had been put into those carvings.

  Inside there was no heat and just blank stone, but the thick stone insulated so well that it was merely chilly. The floor was dirt, cool and moist. It felt like a cave, secure and silent.

  In the centre was a statue, larger than life, of the dwarf goddess, Mellentine. She was bending down, one hand plunging into the earth, the other cupped as if holding seeds. A goddess of fertility and growth, and fortune. Dark green vines had sprouted from the ground around the statues hand, and climbed its arm up to the shoulder. Her downturned eyes stared into the ground, as if looking at visions of roots beneath. She had brought forth a bounty, but was locked into place by it. Like a farmer, she had a responsibility to her crop.

  Dee shivered. He had goosebumps. Dee felt like he was growing a little taller just from staring at her.

  There was an offering bowl in front of Mellentine, a broad flat stone where dwarves had left seeds and fruits, even a cold rose. Cold mist poured from it like dry ice.

  All four adventurers made a little bow to the statue, and took a place in front of it. Dee wondered if he should join them. He didn’t feel like he had earned any experience, he didn’t even know if he had a class, PC or NPC. He decided to watch and learn.

  Tianna knelt down and prayed under her breath.

  Yuri crossed her legs and sunk to the ground, sitting in a lotus position.

  Arjelica took a plum, sucked the flesh from it, and then dropped the pit of it into the bowl. She whispered something in Dwarvish and then sat with one knee up, her head pressed against it. She looked like a runner resting after a marathon.

  Emizra sat, staring at the statue. Her eyes roamed over it, looking at the face and hands, as if she expected to see movement. Her lips moved as if she were singing a silent song.

  Dee sat down awkwardly against the wall. It looked like they would be here for some time. Maybe he should try to level-up, just in case. He closed his eyes.

  “Dear Mellentine, goddess of growth and plenty. Please, level me up,” he thought.

  He didn’t expect anything to happen, but his stomach did a little flip like being on a rollercoaster. He had to open his eyes, because he swore that the statue was looking it him. It wasn’t but, he felt a gaze on him. The goddess Mellentine was looking at him. Looking at him, and the other adventurers. Through the roots around her arms and the earth they were sitting on, she knew he was there. Mana poured into them, in response to their call.

  He saw her. He saw her hidden in the stone, a dwarf woman, with long dark hair and strong, muscled arms and legs. A woman who had worked in a garden under the hottest suns and harshest storms. One who would not give up on the tiniest of saplings struggling to survive. A goddess.

  She was waiting for him. She was holding a door open for him. A heavy stone door that he could not open himself. But he wasn’t far enough along the road to reach it yet. She waited patiently for a moment, and then, in response to his silence, she closed the door.

  I guess I need more experience.

  The vision of the goddess faded, and he looked at the adventurers with new eyes. They had all levelled up, they all had a look of satisfaction and self-consciousness about them. They had gone through that door, and were further along their class journey. They were new to themselves again, holding power that they had not yet practised with. Arjelica cracked her knuckles and stretched, she looked like she wanted to get into a fight right now to test out her new capabilities.

  Dee was more excited now than he had ever been. Levelling up was real. He needs to adventure more, and not die, and get more experience points. He could adventure and then someday soon perhaps walk through that door and see what it meant to grow, to know it. And not die, that was really important.

  The adventurers all stood and took a moment, saying goodbye to the goddess after she had guided them on their path of growth.

  Dee desperately wanted to ask Tianna how she could pray to a god that wasn’t the Kingfisher, but he could only imagine she would take it as some bizarre insult from him.

  “Did you level-up?” Yuri whispered to him.

  “No, not yet. But I can feel it’s close. I must have a class.”

  “We’d better get you more XP then!” She snaked her arm through his and guided him out.

  Dama was waiting for them outside, his heat staff in his hand. He nodded towards another building and spoke.

  “We should relax with their off-shift,” Arjelica said.

  Dama led them into a medium-sized building on the farm, which had small curls of steam wafting from its windows. He was expecting more Dwarf Jazz chilling, but that was not waiting for him.