Arthur exited the teleportation gate first, followed by Sylvie and his family. Next came half the guards followed by the council and the other two lances, and lastly came the remaining guards, several cooks, doctors, and other various support personnel. Everyone looked in awe at the warmly lit cavern, and multilevel structures that looked as if they had grown out of the ground, making the underground cities created by the dwarves look like sandcastles in comparison. The cavern was large enough to hold a small town, but with multilevel structures they could probably hold close to as many people as a small city.

"Amazing," Mica commented as she looked at the buildings. "These put the best earth builders in Darv to shame."

"Aye. Sad but true. These ancient mages were on a completely different level," Buhnd replied as he also admired the work.

"Ahem," Virion cleared his throat. "We can sightsee later. Guards, spread out and start clearing buildings. We need to find a building or buildings suitable for everyone to live in."

"Move in teams of two, and beware of mana beasts," Arthur added.

"What are you talking about?" Buhnd argued. "Hester and I searched this place and didn't see anything living down here."

"Tell that to these tracks by my feet," Arthur stated, pointing to a set of clawed tracks.

Bairon, Virion, and several knights walked up to look.

"I'd say it shouldn't be very big, probably the size of a child," Bairon commented as he evaluated the tracks.

"You hear that Ellie? Don't go anywhere without Boo," Arthur warned her.

"I already don't," she replied, then got closer to whisper into Boo's ear. "We're going hunting later."

"The lances will stay here to guard the council and non-combatants. Guards move in teams of two, and maintain regular contact with one another," Viron stated.

Grawder then started growling while facing to the right of the teleportation gate.

"Guards at the ready!" Bairon called out.

The guards took up a defensive stance between everyone and the direction Grawder was facing. Through enhancing their vision with mana everyone could see someone approaching.

However Arthur and Sylvie's eyes were sharper without enhancing, so when they did they knew everything was fine.

"You're late!" Elder Rinia shouted as she came into view.

"Aunt Rinia!" Tess exclaimed as she ran past the guards and gave her a hug.

"You told your sister-in-law about this place?" Buhnd accused Virion.

"Of course not! Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a secret from a diviner of her caliber?"

"Tessia," Rinia greeted warmly as she returned Tess' hug. "It's so good to see you. You've grown up so much." She then looked up to Arthur. "Clearly you know how beautiful your fiancé is."

Arthur just smiled back.

"Rinia, what are you doing here?" Virion asked.

"I was preparing. However, there's a lot more of you than I expected." Her eyes then glared at Arthur. "I have a feeling you have something to do with this."

"Guards, search in that direction for someplace for everyone to live in," Arthur ordered as he pointed in the direction Rinia came from. "And take everyone else with you. The elder and I need to talk."

"Let's go everyone," Virion said, knowing whatever they were about to talk about wasn't meant for anyone else's ears.

"There's several good buildings that way, just stay away from the one with the fire going, that's mine," Rinia told them, her eyes never leaving Arthur.

As the last person passed her, Rinia's eyes glowed purple.

"Seeing this in my visions doesn't do this justice. The way that mana and aether swirl around you is just awe inspiring," Rinia said with a smile, before she closed her eyes and sighed. "And if I can see that much aether around you, then that must mean you messed with the timeline."

"That's right."

"So how bad was everything to make you do that?" She asked as she gave him a sympathetic look.

"We lost the war and resistance. Everyone I knew was dead, and the Asura and Vritra were getting ready to clash in open war."

"I see. Doesn't get much worse than that?"

"It could get worse?"

"Only with those two already fighting." Her face lightened. "I'm happy that you came to this point in time. I saw another possibility where you went back to your childhood right before you met Tessia. As much as I would have enjoyed seeing you being affectionate to her as a child, you being here now does put my mind at ease."

"Because of the timeline?"

"As I'm sure you know, the further back you go the more you risk changing."

"That was on the warning label when I gained my rune," Arthur replied with a bit of humorous sarcasm.

"Ha. Well don't mess with time again, your odds of success seem to drop with every attempt."

"Speaking of odds, how are they looking?"

Rinia sighed as she shook her head. "Poor, which is a step up from when it was bleak."

"I see," Arthur stretched. "Thanks for the pep talk. I feel like I won already."

Rinia gave a weak chuckle. "You do seem to shine when the odds are against you."

————————————————————-

After talking a little bit more Arthur and Elder Rinia were returning back to her home. The area was a bit more lively than before, with people delivering supplies to different locations. After the guards had found several suitable buildings for everyone to live in, they took up a defensive position around the perimeter of the buildings. Those that were helping carry any supplies just dropped them near one of the buildings and resumed their duties.

The cooks had taken up residence in a three story building nearby, with a large open area on the first floor, and began setting up several cooking artifacts while also storing supplies in a second floor room. The doctors did something similar, but chose a regular building with plenty of room for patients. The building reminded Arthur of the residential areas of cities in his previous life, with most of the buildings looking like they were apartments. And sitting on the stairs of one of the five story buildings was Tess, waiting for Arthur.

"Art, Aunt Rinia," Tess called out and waved as she saw them, then ran over. "So is everything ok?"

"I think it will be, but I need to leave now. Everything has changed so much, many of my preparations have become a waste," Rinia replied.

"Sorry about that," Arthur apologized sheepishly.

"You've ruined my preparations by giving us a better chance at winning this war. I think I can forgive you," she said with a smile. "But now I need to see how things are going to go now and try to prepare again."

"You don't need to do that, your life is too important to burn it away like that," Arthur argued.

"Thank you, but just as my sister burned away her life for Virion, I'll do whatever I can to try and give us the best chance possible." With that Rinia took her leave and returned to her home.

"So," Arthur turned to face Tess. "What are you doing out here? Did you already find yourself someplace to stay? Or are you staying with your parents?"

"I was waiting for you actually, I was thinking maybe we could stay together?"

Arthur gave an over exaggerated gasp. "An unwed couple sleeping in the same space? The same bed?" Arthur gasped again. "How lewd!"

Tess glared at him and punched him in the stomach. Arthur made an over exaggerated bend forward, and as he did scooped Tess off her feet and into his arm.

"Eek. Art?"

Arthur smiled back then leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"I guess that means we need to get in there and pick out our first home together," Arthur replied with a princely smile.

Tess smiled excitedly as she blushed, not that she thought he would say no, but the way he replied made it sound so much more special. Before she knew it Arthur was walking with her in his arms towards the building.

"What are you doing?" She asked, starting to feel a little embarrassed as several people were staring.

"I'm carrying my bride to be, to where we will call home while we're here," he replied with a satisfied smile.

"I can walk, put me down," she stated, panicking a little.

"No way, I'm carrying you all the way in."

Tess covered her face. She loved being held by him, but the eyes on them made her self conscious. As soon as they entered the building Tess started to squirm in his arms.

"Ok we're inside now."

"Oh no, I'm carrying you all the way to our room."

"Fine, fourth floor. My Grandfather said the guards were taking the lower floors," she instructed him as she buried her face in his chest, while feeling like a damsel in distress.

Arthur carried Tess up three flights of stairs until he exited to the fourth floor.

"Well at least we'll have lights," Arthur commented as he walked down into the well lit hall.

"And that's all we have," Virion replied, then exited from one of the rooms and entered the hall. As he saw them a big smile formed on his face as he raised an eyebrow. "Getting ready for the wedding I see. Good idea."

"Ahhh!," Tess cried out into Arthur's chest, earning a good laugh from both Arthur and Virion.

"So which room is ours?" Arthur asked as he looked down the hall and saw five doorways, but no doors.

"Right this way," the old elf said with a business-like smile, as he gestured for them to follow him. "As you can see there are no doors, nor do I think we can install any. We'll be meeting in an hour to discuss everything we need. I'm requesting heavy leather flaps to act as doors." He said as he walked, then stopped in front of a doorway. "Here's your room, I'm next door, Alduin and Merial are across from me, and your mother and sister are across from you."

"I feel like you're trying to send me a message," Arthur replied, knowing good and well what the message was.

"I'm just making sure there aren't any unexpected surprises," Virion said with an innocent smile.

"You know I can use sound magic right?"

Viron's face darkened. "You know I brought my cactus and tar right?"

"I'm confused. What surprises? And why does it matter that Arthur can use sound magic? And why are you threatening him, Grandfather?" Tess asked genuinely.

"Oh my sweet innocent Granddaughter. That is a conversation you need to have with your mother," Virion said as he patted her head. "Anyway, Arthur, I'll come get you in a little bit. We found a small building we're calling town hall that we can use for council meetings. So try and get settled in and come up with a list of things we need."

With that Virion left back for his room, and Arthur and Tess entered theirs. Gently Arthur lowered Tess to her feet, his hand gently caressing her right thigh as he stood up.

"What was that?!" Tess asked in disbelief that he touched her there.

"What was what?" Arthur asked, playing innocent.

"Let's look around," she said and walked into what looked like a kitchen.

She walked to what looked like a stove and began turning knobs and pressing them, but nothing happened.

"When I saw this I was hoping we could cook some meals together," Tess commented, sounding disappointed and started opening cabinets.

Because Arthur came to the sanctuary later in the previous timeline, he didn't have to deal with these cooking artifacts not working. In the beginning though no one could figure them out or get them to work. It wasn't until Gideon and Emily were rescued and brought to the sanctuary that they were able to actually get them working.

Arthur looked around the artifact as he remembered the only issue was that it had depleted its mana supply. He was thankful that the ancient mages made these very user friendly, as he was never very good at artifacting. Finding a clear crystal near the back he placed his hand on it as he channeled mana into it.

"So the cabinets are empty, but it looks like we have running water at least, but only cold water," Tess commented as she checked things out.

Wumf. A burner on the stove ignited.

"How did you do that?"

"It's an artifact, it was just depleted of mana so I gave it a recharge."

He then walked over to what looked like a fridge and did the same. In a matter of seconds cool air was circulating, and the temperature inside was dropping.

"Now this is starting to feel like a home," Arthur commented.

He walked around and found an artifact to heat water as well and recharged it, but couldn't find any other artifacts. Next they went down a short hallway where they found two bedrooms on either side of the hall with a rather large bathroom at the end.

"Ok so Regis and Sylvie can have one room, we'll have the other," Tess thought out loud.

"Do I really have to share a room with that mutt?" Sylvie groaned.

"I call top bunk!" Regis laughed.

"I'm sure everyone else will need a bed too, but just make sure we're on a list for one. I have my bed roll so I'll be ok for, ahhh" Tess was telling Arthur before he wrapped his arms around her waist and carried her out of the room. "What are you doing?"

Arthur didn't reply, but turned back into their room and held out his arm with his storage rune. Tess' eyes opened wide in shock as Arthur removed his king sized bed from his room in the castle out of storage.

"Nice," Regis said as he emerged from Arthur's body and laid on the bed. "So where are you two going to sleep?"

Arthur didn't reply, and grabbed Regis by the tuff of his fur and pulled him off the bed and threw him into the other room.

"I'll get you a bunk bed like you requested," Arthur said.

Regis just groaned in response.

Tess giggled at their interaction before she realized something.

"Wait, you knew we were going to need a bed didn't you."

"In the previous timeline everyone just had bed rolls. After a year of sleeping on a cold stone floor without a blanket, I'm not giving up my bed if I can help it."

Tess smiled and came up and gave him a kiss.

"Then I'll do everything I can to make sure you never have to sleep on a floor again," Tess said, then kissed him again. As they kissed a thought came to her head, and she broke their kiss. "Wait a minute, how much room is in that rune?"

"That bed took up less than a fourth of what I could hold."

"Then why do you still wear that dimensional ring?" She asked as she took his hand with the ring she gave him.

Arthur smiled as he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer.

"Because it was a gift from you," he said and leaned in and kissed her lips.

Tess was touched that he kept wearing the ring for such a reason. She returned the kiss as one of her hands rested on his back, while the other ran through his long hair and stopped on the back of his head to pull him in even more, deepening the kiss. Soon they were on the bed making out, completely lost in the moment. So much so that they didn't notice Virion had entered their home, and arrived at the entrance to their bedroom.

"Ahem," Virion cleared his throat. "I hate to interrupt," he said with an amused look on his face.

"Grandfather!" Tess yelled as she threw a pillow at him.

He dodged while laughing.

"What? I announced myself, but I didn't hear a reply."

"It's true," Regis called out from the other room.

"Clearly you two were too preoccupied."

"What do you need, Gramps?" Arthur groaned as Tess rolled off of him and he sat up.

"The council is gathering. We're making a list of everything we're going to need to stay here, and your presence is needed," he said with a neutral tone.

"Right," Arthur said as he slid off the bed. He then turned back to Tess. "I'll be back soon," he said, then kissed her goodbye.

"I see you don't need a bed, but will you be requesting a crib for that other room?" Virion teased as they started to leave the home.

"Things won't go that far."

"At Least till after the wedding I expect."

"That goes without saying," Arthur replied boldly with a smirk.

Virion looked like he was about to speak, but was cut off by Sylvie.

"Arthur," she said as she exited Alice and Ellie's apartment.

"So that's where you were hiding," Arthur replied as he stopped.

"I figured I would try and help your mother and sister settle in."

"How are they?"

"For now your mother is distracting herself by keeping busy. Ellie is ok. She's going through her trunk."

"I see. A lot has happened over these last few days. None of us have really been given a chance to really stop to catch our breath and grieve."

"You'll have time. As things are now I don't plan on sending you out, and I don't care what Tessia says, things have gotten more dangerous, she's on lockdown here," Virion chimed in.

"Agreed. I expect Blaine and Priscilla to do the same with Curtis and Kathyln after she eventually arrives."

"Anyway," Sylvie said as she handed Arthur a paper. "Your mom and sister made a list of things they felt they needed. Your mom really wants to cook, so I think you should make getting cooking artifacts a priority."

"She wants to be normal right now, and I bet family meals she's made will help her feel better," Arthur surmised. "There are cooking artifacts in the kitchen, they're just depleted of mana. Channel some mana into them and they'll be good to go."

"Great, I'll take care of that. Cooking supplies?"

"Ask Tess. My rune and ring don't have anything edible. As for cooking utensils, I always got them from the quartermaster then returned them after missions."

"Ok, thanks. Don't be surprised if you have lunch waiting when you get back."

Arthur smiled and tousled her hair.

"Looking forward to it. Oh and tell my mom and Ellie I brought their beds, I'll bring them out when I get back."

He and Virion then continued walking out.

"You know, most people don't know if they'll be a good parent until after their child is born, but I can tell now," Virion patted Arthur on the back. "You'll make a good father one day."