Tresk busied herself stoking the fire in the fireplace. She put a few new logs on it before breathing new life into the flames. The locals sure did love their fires, no matter how hot it was outside. While it wasn’t as bad as the Season of Fire, it was still hot enough to make the idea of a roaring fireplace unappealing.

“It's good for the babies,” Tresk said, clarifying. “They like it hot.”

“I bet they do,” Theo said, edging away from the pen. “So, what’s wrong with her?”

“Ain’t no potion gonna heal her up,” Tresk said. “She’s gonna need time. Only time.”

“So this is some genetic thing? A natural progression for marshlings?”

“Yeah. We go crazy when the clutch hatches. All our lifeforce goes into raising the babies,” Tresk said. “It takes a lot away from us, leaving us in a state like this for a few seasons.”

“Damn. Looks like she’s dying,” Theo said.

“I am dying,” Sledge said.

“You’re sure there’s no cure?” Theo asked, kneeling next to Sledge. He could feel there was nothing magically wrong with her. She had no status effect he could cure with a potion or magic. There might’ve been something the people aligned with the gods could do, but he doubted it.

“None that my people know of,” Tresk said.

“Two options,” Theo said, not even allowing time for his thoughts to gather. “The lizard-people, and migration.”

Tresk turned, both brows knitting. “Nah… Migration? This early? No, we can’t do that. Can we?”

This was something Theo had thought about a lot. Mortals in the heavens were a big problem back when he had first taken control of Tero’gal. They couldn’t exist there for long, often going through some seriously horrible symptoms. Both he and Tero’gal had advanced since then. Sending Sledge to his world would reset her mind, allowing her to get over this hump. Yet was it right to take her babies along? There was a moral question he couldn’t answer on his own.

“I think I can do it,” Theo said. “With the progress I made with my aura control, I can bind her soul to Tero’gal.”

Tresk rubbed her chin, looking down at the pleading eyes of Sledge. “Dang, looks like she’s about to keel over at any moment. I mean, the people from Mudball are helping her out, but they can only do so much. Would migration really fix her stupid brain?”

“Hey…” Sledge offered her objections, but it was faint. “Take me and the babies.”

“You heard the woman,” Theo said. “I’m certain it’ll work. The healing energies of the middle realms will clear her mind.”

“Life gets hard and we just run away to heaven,” Tresk said, clicking her tongue as she folded her arm in disapproval. “You gotta let her get her affairs in order, though. Don’t just zap her there now.”

For all of Theo’s eagerness to get someone migrated from the mortal realm to the middle realms, he wasn’t about to force Sledge to move without sorting her life first. As he thought about it, he realized he didn’t know if she had family. But like most people in Broken Tusk, her family was the other townsfolk. Whatever business she had to sort out wouldn’t take too long.

“Sounds good,” Theo said, patting Sledge on t he head. “There are plenty of people at Boar Hollow happy to take in you and your babies.”

“Thanks,” Sledge said, pushing herself to her feet. “It won’t take long.”

With a nod, Theo left Tresk and Sledge to figure that stuff out. He walked idly through the neighborhood, always marveling at the way it had developed into its own little town. Along the paved roads were the fronts to houses, shops, and even a few artisans. Those crafters were relatively new and had ensconced themselves in places the alchemist thought reserved for houses.

The locals had done well to transform the area, and Theo found it hard to be mad. It was a localized slice they could change however they saw fit, and the region was only expanding. He might even need to expand the city’s walls to the east before the switch.

“Looks like people have bought property,” Theo said, rubbing his chin as he looked at the sprawl before him. “A lot of people.”

Summoning his administration interface, he navigated through the menus to find the place where Alise detailed the migrants and property sales. There had been quite a few people buying plots and placing their own buildings. The only thing that would’ve made him complain was if they didn’t match the other buildings. But the crowded press of the neighborhood hadn't changed. It had only expanded.

Despite the neighborhood increasing, no more major players had settled. In the interface, Theo saw how Alise had rejected applications for other businesses. He smiled. She had Broken Tusk’s interests and the interests of the Southlands Alliance in mind. Maybe money didn’t mean a whole lot, but protecting the ability of the locals to provide for themselves was important.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I hired the right lady,” Theo said, snaking his way through the town some more.

One business that had settled was a cafe. They served tea, confections, and other casual items. There was even an outdoor seating area, which Theo took full advantage of. He took a seat on the stone patio, watching the throngs of people on the streets. While waiting, he withdrew a reagent borne of the mortal plane from his inventory. Next he pulled out one of the healing leafs he had found in Drogramath’s realm, and placed them next to each other.

To a trained alchemist’s eye, the differences were immense. Theo focused on both, going between each as he considered the differences. The energies between them were the key difference. The one from the mortal plane had a limited aspect, almost as though its potential was much lower. But Drogramath’s reagent felt like it didn’t have an upper limit. Perhaps it could absorb more latent energy, or generally had access to more in the middle realms.

Theo was drawn out of his thoughts as the server brought him his moss tea and a lemon-flavored confection. “Thanks,” he said, taking in the smell of the tea. He paused, looking up at the server. “Who made this?”

“Oh. Our part-timer,” the man said, pointing with his chin inside the establishment. “She’s pretty good, right?”

Through the glass window of the cafe, Theo saw his apprentice’s apprentice working behind the counter. “Thank you. She’s excellent,” he said.

“I’ll let her know the archduke likes her tea,” the human man said with a slight bow before disappearing into the shop.

Theo watched the server cross behind the counter, saying something to Eleanor. When she looked up, her cheeks flushed a dark shade of red and she vanished behind the counter, ducking out of view. The alchemist couldn’t help himself and barked a laugh. But the quality of the tea was in the taste, not the smell. He took his first tentative sip and nodded with approval. It rivaled even that which Xam could make. While the quality of his own tea was lacking, Eleanor had brewed a seriously good cup.

He couldn’t help but wonder if her time in the lab had helped her. He had some questions to ask her about her time in the cafe, but gave attention to his tea and lemon pastry first. Of course the sweet item was also delicious, pairing oddly well with the tea. Both were sweetened slightly, but not overly so. When dipped into the tea, the pastry imparted a gentle lemon flavor, making it perfect for dunking. Combined with all those positive notes, it was oddly filling.

Theo entered the shop, Eleanor averting her gaze as he leaned over the counter. “That was some excellent tea. Did you do the lemon-thing, too?”

“That’s right,” Eleanor said, turning to meet his gaze. She had a resolute look on her face, as though she were facing down some great beast. “I’m quite good at both.”

“I’d say. You’re not the owner of the cafe though, are you?”

“No, I’m just working the evenings for now.”

“For money?” Theo asked.

Eleanor shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m paid more than fair at your lab.”

Theo laughed, unable to control himself. “This isn’t an interrogation. You’re not even my apprentice. Just wanted to make sure you were doing well for yourself.”

Eleanor let out a heavy sigh, looking over the interior of the cafe with a wistful expression. She pushed a strand of her black hair behind her pointed ears and nodded. “I’m unsure which I like better. Alchemy or baking.”

Theo shrugged. “No reason you can’t do both. There might be something about combining the two that just works. We noticed my tea was better than anyone else’s until Xam got a cooking core.”

“I don’t have the funds to start my own thing,” Eleanor said.

“Tero’gal is a big place with lots of opportunities. There are so many cities, I don’t know the name of them all. But there are plenty of places that could use a cafe. Actually, there’s this awesome seaside town… I can’t even remember the name of it.”

“I’d like that a lot,” Eleanor said, nodding fervently.

“Well, just let me know if you want to go early. I need to do a few tests, but I think we can do some migrations soon if you’re interested.”

“I’ll think about it,” Eleanor said.

But Theo read the look on her face as a reserved one. He nodded, not willing to push the issue for now. Instead, he gave her a sharp nod and left the cafe. He’d have to come back again so he could try more of the sweets she had created. Their menu even had flavored tea, which he was very eager to taste. For now, he was happy to leave a too-big tip and head out for the day.

As Theo made his way back to his manor, an administrative report caught his eye. Alise was concerned about migrating Sledge and her kids to Tero’gal. It didn’t take her long to round the corner, nearly spotting him near the Marsh Wolf Tavern. He ducked behind it, slinking around the back and over a few fences. The woman nearly spotted him after he crossed the road, ducking behind Throk’s workshop. Just as he thought he was in the clear, a gruff voice echoed from within the darkened shop’s rear entrance.

“Are you sneaking around my place for any reason?” Throk asked, arms folded as he glared down at the alchemist. “Or are you just looking at getting clobbered?”

“I’m avoiding Alise.”

“What did you do this time?”

“Nothing big,” Theo said with a shrug. He got to his feet, dusting his knees off. “Just moving mortals to the middle planes. Standard stuff, if you think about it.”

“I thought we were going after the swap,” Throk said. “You pushing that up?”

“No. But I gotta practice for the swap. It’ll be up to me to migrate everyone in Broken Tusk. Otherwise they gotta go through the reincarnation system, and who knows how long that’ll take.”

Throk grumbled. “Ya just can’t leave it alone, can ya?”

“It isn’t in my nature to leave things be. I gotta poke just about everything.”

“Fair enough,” Throk grunted.

Theo worked his way through the city, avoiding Alise and finally arriving at the manor. Tresk had signaled that Sledge would need more time to get her affairs in order. But she warned that others were now interested in migrating to Tero’gal.

“Just make sure they know it isn’t possible. Now until we know it can work,” Theo warned.

“Got it, boss. I’ll be home for dinner soon. Promise.”

Stepping into the manor, Theo smelled the food before he saw it. Sarisa and Rowan had created a decent spread. It wasn’t as luxurious as some of the things they had made in the past, but it was still impressive. Steaks, flatbread, spicy zee grits, and more. The alchemist rubbed his table as he approached, reaching a hand out for a steak. Sarisa slapped him away.

“Not until Tresk gets here!” she warned, glaring at him.

Theo took his seat, pouting. “Come on. I’m hungry.”

“Deal with it.”