Dungeon 42

Waiting

Chapter 177

After Elim confirmed the Lepusan band was inbound, things were relatively quiet. Tiller left to join him. She neither asked for my permission nor needed it, but I found it curious. She’d seemed quite keen on a deal with me initially but hadn’t brought it up since coming to the valley.

I didn’t care either way, though I’d make one if she asked again. It just had me wondering if she was waiting for me to bring the subject up first.

To keep busy I asked Hari about what sort of environment her people preferred. She hadn’t cared much for being left behind while Ban, Ewen, and Joss left, but had warmed to the task. Doe’s were the ones with the ability to dig burrows and she had some very specific ideas about what kind of ground was acceptable.

I provided a little bit of that in the town and some further into the valley. Nothing out of place, though it did require a bit of nighttime modification and careful blending to make it work. The majority of it would be on the opposite side of the mountain in the forest. It was naturally occurring there so it didn’t need a lot of work or explanation.

“Good enough,” Hari said after drumming her foot on a patch of dirt. It had been going like a jackhammer, checking for instability and cavities. She’d elected to investigate the patch I’d placed among a copse of trees near the river, just off from the halfling burrows.

“Mind if I get to it then?” Hari asked.

“Be my guest,” I offered. I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant. We’d only discussed soil and things she’d look for in a proper site. Lepusan didn’t build in a framework like halflings did. I wasn’t sure what she’d need for the next phase.

Hari nodded and then dropped on all fours and started digging with her hands. My mouth fell open as I started to say something then failed to think of what. I’d thought we’d discuss tools and things, but that didn’t appear to be needed the way she was going.

Once she was in deep enough to start employing her back legs the dirt really started flying. Seeing that she was in her element, I backed off. It would be easy for me to offer help later if she needed it. Crowding her now or insisting I could do things better wouldn’t be a smart move.

Two weeks passed easily like that. I worked with various groups to get them settled in more comfortably, be they skeleton or mortal, and waited for the arrival of new residents. The folks on the farm were largely content with living in the bunkhouse there, though two of the families had elected to move into homes in the town.

They’d been surprised how easy it was to make the arrangements and about the option to buy the properties. I’d had to do a little song and dance about the town being run down and in need of people because of the dungeon. Some of the men worked as gathers in the dungeon on the side, but most worked on the farm for the moment.

Erica drew a line at house servants though. She wasn’t noble and had grown accustomed to doing things on her own. Help wasn’t taken amiss nor was chore sharing, but she didn’t need or want to be coddled as she would have been as lady of her fathers house.

It took some restating of boundaries, but things were sorting themselves out. My only suggestion being to break up certain things into businesses and share the money from them with those who worked there.

Silvertree Cider and Mead seemed like a given since Erica kept bees and adding an orchard wouldn’t be difficult on the opposite side of the mountain. I’d made a mistake in not including more fruit trees on the farm but the amount was probably already a bit sketchy. I’d had to add an irrigation system for them to explain why they didn’t just shrivel up and die.

An unexpected perk of my increased sociability, or possibly just time spent above ground, was that it was getting easier. I still felt uncomfortable in my true form, but not nearly as much as I had. Moving around as Deux had been easier from the start but now I could do it without issue.

Since Elim had broken off from the Lepusan group I wasn’t getting frequent updates on them. Tiller had kept tabs on them for the first week until she joined up with them and they switched focus to hunting for seekers. They’d been fine though and were close enough by the time she stopped that I didn’t think trouble was likely.

They’d likely appear soon, and I made a point of visiting Hari to check on her progress. I didn’t technically need to, I could just look at my map and had, but it seemed neighborly.

“Hari? How are things going?” I called down one of the holes she’d been digging. The warren was coming together from what I understood. It had a number of semi private sleeping chambers and a central area along with a sheltered back exit.

“Miss Mayor? Come see for yourself!” Hari called back up. I descended at her invitation, knowing not calling out first was a sure way to get a face full of dirt. I had to get on all fours to make it through the entry tunnel but then the main area opened up to a comfortable height. Tree roots wove a mat overhead that formed the ceiling.

“It's bigger than last time,” I offered. Trying to aesthetically compliment a dug out would have sounded forced so I didn’t bother.

“This is a lucky sort of patch to find. Usually you can only dig a family warren but this is almost big enough for a clan,” Hari said cheerfully. She was covered from the tips of her ears down to her toes in dirt and didn’t seem to mind it a bit.

“Like the other one?” I asked. I’d made the one in town smaller.

“Oh, even that's rather large. You could fit four to six families easily if everyone is friendly,” Hari said, laughing.

“I take it you don’t usually do a lot in them then,” I said, a bit surprised. It was probably just my otherworldly sensibilities but I wouldn’t have enjoyed being crammed in like she was suggesting was the norm. Bunkering down against the cold together made sense despite that.

“Not unless it's winter, and then you mostly sleep if it's too cold to go out. Don’t know if that's how it's always been or not, my mother only taught me the basics,” Hari explained. I bit back on a question, knowing damn well there was a sad story attached to basically everything she’d said. A sad story that was none of my business to ask about.

“Well, let me know if you need anything or want to try something different. I’ve got plenty of stone and wood if you want to try adapting one of the other styles of building at some point,” I offered. It was up to the Lepusan themselves if they wanted to incorporate other techniques. I wasn’t going to push now that I’d made the offer clear.

“No, this is good to start. Though the elders might have some ideas. The only thing I still need to do is get to the provisioning, but it’ll keep until after I try my hand at that gathering work,” Hari explained.

“Provisioning?” I asked.

“Oh, laying in stores for winter and such. I’m not going to do all of it, but I should get it started for when the others arrive. It’ll help them feel safe,” Hari said, gesturing vaguely around the space.

“You know, I appreciate you wanting to work for it but with the number of people coming, I’d really like to help,” I offered. I could be gentler with this than I was with Ban when he left the valley. Hari and the new Lepusan wouldn’t be outside of my area of influence if something went wrong and they needed things.

“That's kind of you,” Hari said, pensive. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not after what she and her people had been through.

“Hardly, getting people back in this town is a blessing in my book. I’m happy to do whatever's needed to make it a comfortable place to live,” I said honestly. “But don’t feel pressured. Take your time and think about it.”

“I’ll do just that,” Hari said, relaxing.

I nodded politely and had to school my expression into a friendly mask. A non-hostile entry pop-up had just appeared and I could detect incoming along the mountain path. It had to be the Lepusan but I couldn’t let my glee show.

“You know what, let's go have lunch. You’ve been working almost non-stop,” I said. Anything to get her into the town so she’d be there when her people arrived and save me having to send messengers and other nonsense.

“Oh, I mean-” Hari started to demure. She gestured at her dirt covered herself as explanation.

“Nothing a good shake and a dip in the river can't fix,” I countered. She still didn’t look convinced though her conviction was waning.

“We’ll have to stop at the pastry shop too, of course,” I added, deploying the nuclear option.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be rude by refusing,” Hari said brightly. She was out of the entry hole and into the water before I had time to do more than shield my face from flying dirt.