“Ah!” Derek was startled awake by something light and fluffy landing on his head. “Silvi! What the hell?” He reached up and grabbed his companion by her scruff—something that he would never be able to do if she didn’t allow it—and brought her back down to his lap. “Why did you do that?” He was having a pretty good nap as it was. He’d not had a lot of time to rest since changing systems, so once he ran out of daily things to do, he was enjoying his light naps—even though he didn’t need them, nor sleep for that matter, anymore.

    “No more sleeping!” Silvi’s voice chimed from her communication crystal. “I let you sleep through dinner yesterday, not again!”

    “Oh?” Derek pushed his chair legs in and sat up. “Is it that time already?” he asked.

    “Almost, almost...” Silvi said. “Go to the dining room.”

    “You don’t have to tell me twice,” Derek said with a chuckle as he stood—causing Silvi to hop off his lap and instantly vanish from in front of him. She’s really good at using all her skills. It looks so natural. It was kind of funny to him, seeing Silvi use her Active Void Shift skill just to gather people for dinner.

    Derek raised his arms out above his head and stretched. After a quick, but very hard-earned yawn, he decided to do as his companion told him and made his way to the dining room.

    “Nice of you to join us,” Malorie said as Derek stepped through the door. “Have you gotten enough sleep yet?”

    “No,” Derek said. “That’s impossible. You can never get enough sleep.” He looked around the room, and when his eyes met Jacks’s, he nodded. “See. Some of you could do with some more of it. Look at poor Jacks over there, he looks like he’s about had it... why exactly do you look that way?” he asked. “Or rather, how? Your stats aren’t low enough for you to be looking like that.”

    “He’s just worried,” Rayna answered for Jacks. “The baby will be here soon enough, and he’s been running himself ragged trying to make sure everything is perfect.” She ran her hand over her belly and smiled softly. “He acts like he’s never done this before.”

    “It’s... been a long time since Jake was born. I’m a little rusty,” Jacks said.

    “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be prepared,” Derek said. “But it’s probably be best to get as much sleep as you can until the baby comes...”

    “Don’t I know it?” Jacks sighed.

    “It’s good to see the two of you, though,” Derek said. “Looks like it took Silvi preparing something special to get you to come over for dinner.” Ever since they bought their house in Savannah, the newly married couple hadn’t come to the Void Emporium often.

    It was true that Jacks still had his head guard position at the shop, but Malorie had let him take off after they bought the house, and he probably wouldn’t come back to work until sometime after the baby arrived. Derek was totally fine with that—especially for the time being. If he was in communication crystal range, he could get back to the shop from anywhere within seconds. The same was true for Silvi, as well.

    And if it was just something minor, Bones was always lurking around when he and Ogre weren’t working on growing stronger, and he was no pushover, either. Not to mention that they were in Savannah, and Natalie certainly doesn’t look favorably on those who cause a ruckus...especially in a shop owned by someone like Derek, who was considered one of her personal friends.

    “We’ve just been so busy,” Jacks said.

    “Yes, and this pregnancy has been much more draining than I ever expected it to be,” Rayna said. “It’s like I’m walking around with a debuff at all times. Even my stamina drains faster now.”

    “That’s interesting,” Derek said. It wasn’t something that he’d thought about before.

    “Interesting?” Rayna looked at him with raised eyebrows.

    “Oh... sorry,” Derek said. “I didn’t think it would change much of anything, but it’s interesting to know that it does.”

    At that moment, the door to the dining room opened again, revealing a greedy-looking Rudy. “Oh good! I didn’t miss anything,” he said happily as he took his seat. “Rayna! Jacks! Good to see you!”

    Not long after Rudy made his way up, a tired and frustrated looking Brandi slowly walked her way inside, then drug herself over to her position at the dinner table.

    “Still haven’t made that breakthrough?” Derek asked the young smith.

    “Neither did I,” Stella said, emotionless. She looked around, then saw a seat beside Malorie and walked over and sat down. “When Silvi showed up in my office, I thought it best to accept the invite... though... I told her I didn’t need any help getting here...”

    “Seems like she didn’t listen,” Derek chuckled, and everyone around the table smiled.

    “No... she did not,” Stella snorted. “But you have a very nice working basement.”

    “Ah, so she used the ‘travel room?’” Derek asked.

    “If that’s what you call it,” Stella replied.

    “Well... welcome to dinner,” Derek laughed.

    That’s just like her, Derek thought. He wasn’t sure why his companion went out of her way to invite Stella, but he wasn’t complaining. Actually, he could take a guess. Stella basically held all of Alanah’s fortune now that she’d gone away. And, in Silvi’s eyes, that meant recipes and ingredients. Yeah... that’s why she’s here. I guess it’s possible that Silvi is just paying her back some, too... maybe a combination of both.

    After all, Stella was the person that first allowed Silvi to experience what it was like to work in a kitchen. She was also, technically, the person who gave Silvi her first taste of professional cooking. Malorie’s cooking was great, but his companion’s experience with the Crown Restaurant’s cooking was on an entirely different level.

    While thinking about all of this, Derek felt the dreadful aura appear once again. This time, however, it didn’t appear from all the way down in the basement. Instead, it appeared in the corner of the dining room. A small tear appeared in the void there, and out hopped his companion. Behind her was a floating pot covered by a clamped down lid on it.

    Once Silvi willed the void shut, she let the pot drop to the floor, eliciting an ‘ow!’ from inside. The clamps on the lid then snapped open, and the lid was slowly lifted off the pot before vanishing. Next, the head of a boy, also on the cusp of turning 15-years-old, appeared poking out of it.

    “Thomas!” Brandi was the first to call out. “You came, too?”

    Thomas pulled himself out of the pot and stood. Derek looked over at Stella and seen her eye twitch. He almost laughed, but barely kept himself from doing so. At least Silvi allowed Stella the dignity of climbing out of the pot in a private area...

    “I...” Thomas muttered. “I can’t be here!” he finally said.

    “Woah,” Derek said. “What’s wrong?”

    “It was our turn to enter the dungeon. They had just called our team up... then... then... Silvi appeared and stuffed me into her pot. Now I’m here,” the boy explained.

    “Silvi...” Derek muttered. “Did you at least give them an explanation... never mind...” Sorry, I need to borrow Thomas for a bit. It’s dinner time... He couldn’t see that playing out well. He’d say something else about it, but she wasn’t the only person who had a habit of ‘borrowing’ people from important meetings and events.

    “We don’t need an explanation,” Silvi finally answered. “His team will go in when I take him back. And they will do good. I will tell them.”

    “Ah...” Derek was almost speechless. “Those poor instructors...” he said. First, he’d given them an impromptu lesson. Now, whichever ones were leading the classes for their dungeon running, were getting to meet Silvi.

    “Teaching sounds fun,” Silvi said through her crystal. “Might have to help students learn to cook at the school. I’d be great teacher.”

    “I’m sure you’d be... something,” Derek said. “Okay, Thomas... Go ahead and have a seat. Since you’re here, you might as well enjoy yourself. Like Silvi said, she’ll take care of the... confusion.”

    “Fine...” Thomas huffed, then went over to take his seat. “I don’t even know what’s so special...”

    “You’ll find out!” Silvi summoned, then hopped on her pot lid, then floated up above the center of the table. “Everyone’s here! It’s time to eat!”