.^^ Map of the World... ^^
(... minus two Southern continents)

— Caroline —

I growled when my daughter wandered into that dangerous cave, but paused, thinking logically for a moment. 'If she's serious about Sandy, she'll need to be a part of her clan anyway, right? I suppose this is only one step she's taking a little early...'

Teagan sighed and nodded. 'Indeed... also, from what Sandy just said, it's a place that shows you your full potential. As an adult, she has less potential to unveil, now... she should be alright.'

Tommy collapsed, on cue, and hissed loudly as a tattoo began to scrawl itself on her throat, tiny words in a language I couldn't even possibly imagine reading, almost like staring at ancient pictograms in Giza.

She stayed like that for almost a half-hour, growling softly and clutching her head. Kaza laid a hand on her shoulder, breathing with her calmly, and then held her back casually when she tried to run into the cave after her twin.

A few minutes later, the Mongolin spoke again, so we could all hear him. "Fine... you may leave, and you may speak."

"Are you hungry? My mother makes a great Meat Pie." I heard Cassidy chuckle mischievously.

The creature laughed. "No. I do not eat mortal food. Goodbye." Suddenly Cassidy came flying out of the cave, crashing face-first into the sand and skidding to a stop in front of Sandy, who raised an eyebrow slowly.

"Heya doll." Cassidy grinned, dusting herself off, and I blinked at the intricate tattoos now gracing her hands, whereas Tommy's were on her throat, though the pattern was the same.

Sandy sighed, and hugged her, then slugged her shoulder harshly. "Don't do anything stupid like that again! It's irritating!" She snapped.

"Hey, I just went to get my staff back, I didn't know it was a big deal-" they argued for a little bit, and Cassidy won by swinging Sandy down into her arms, and giving her the kiss of her life.

I chuckled, and the effect spread, releasing the tension as everyone roared with laughter, and Kaza nudged me. "What's their full names, so I can add them to the Clan Registry?" She asked.

"Cassidy Ann Skøll and Thomas Gunnar Skøll." I hummed. "I suppose this means they're... approved? They already argue like an old married couple." I grinned.

She laughed. "True, but that's up to Sandy, now that my part's done... anyway, the party is just getting started! Light the fires!" She clapped, and four massive bonfires blazed to life, almost boxing us in, as the staffs disappeared back into the sand, and the people flooded the circle, dancing to the music that was once again playing.

I spotted couples sneaking off to the other sides of the fires for privacy, and down the beach into several dozen little coves and inlets, and grinned, pulling Teagan off towards one, not bothering to sneak or act covert, as I threw him over my shoulder again, (he'd been standing on my cloak, the blazing sand too hot for him, even at this time of night,) and marched off to a few scattered cheers and whistles.

—

When the morning finally rolled around, the sun slowly peeking out from behind the horizon, and the sand started getting hot enough that not even the Elves could stand it, we all rejoined, checking to make sure everyone was back, then journeyed back under the water, into the canal. This time, I could see the fish that swam around our little water tunnel, intrigued by us, and the water dragons swimming away from us, clearly recognizing the presence of magic.

I wandered up next to Sandy and Cassidy, and their little band of apprentices, and chuckled. "So, I suppose you'll need a place to keep them? I've got a lovely little freezer in the vault that you could store them in." I grinned.

Sandy laughed as they stared at me in horror until they realized I was teasing, and all but Iris pouted. "No, I think I'm alright... Tommy has explained that she'll have transport for us, and there'll be a portal between here and the Castle, in the northern coast of the Silver Ridge?"

I nodded. "And the ClockTower, as well. It's not for mass transport, and never for cargo, of course, but you can leave the kids in the ClockTower while you're not able to teach them, then-"

"No, you mistake me. These ladies have joined the clan, and are doing their apprenticeships until their 21st birthdays. As such, they will not leave my side for any long periods of time, if they choose to be adventuring Druids like me. They will adventure with me, and they will learn magic from me. But traveling with them can become taxing on my purse and my mind, so Tommy offered a means of travel for the Party. Cassidy, me, and the girls, we will be going to deal with the dragons, then returning to the Silver Ridge." She explained sternly.

The little one with the plant for a staff raised a hand weakly. "Wait what?"

"Hmm? Oh they're just dragons, darling, it's no big deal. Let's get you outfitted, first..." Sandy grinned and led the girls off as we came up into the canal, and back to the compound.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Crazy kids... alright, Teagan, darling, it looks like they've got everything handled, here... best we can do is clear out their infestation of Behir, then go home and leave them to their business with the dragons and... whatever else is causing trouble."

Teagan shrugged. "I planned on researching the books we found in the Library after this, so that's fine by me."

I nodded. "Good. We'll take Tommy and Gladrinon with us, they could be useful. Sandy and Cassidy will be busy with their apprentice girls for a while."

The request we'd been given, (delivered by a pretty boy in a gold shirt,) promised a blasphemous amount of gold to destroy the infiltration of Behir, which I had accepted calmly, then returned to Teagan with it.

He raised his eyebrows slowly. "Hmm... seems their economy is taking more hits than we expected... let's get some sleep, Lover, then leave at sundown."

"Why not dawn?" I asked.

"We'll be underground, my love, dawn is irrelevant." He responded dryly.

"... party pooper." I grumbled.

—

We spent the next week or so stalking the Behir in the tunnels and sewers, while the girls went off somewhere else. It was a time-consuming job, but not overly taxing, physically. The beast's were dangerous in packs, and when they attacked from an ambush position, but when hunted down like rabbits in their own Warren, they proved no more dangerous than wild dogs.

The Matron was interesting, in that she was much, much bigger, about the size of the giant dragon whose head Cassidy and Tommy had taken and delivered into the Vault while they were in the plane of Fire.

Once Teagan removed her ability to breath lightning, there was nothing she could really do, so I tranq'ed her and he shrank her, tossing her into the vault and then the small clutch of eggs that she had managed to lay in the past week, as well.

After another quick sweep of the tunnels, we brought a few earth-mages from the city, and closed all the new tunnels, re-upping the supports of the sewers, and hardening the stone surrounding the city, making it nigh impossible for the Behir to dig through again.

Once the entire city was searched and cleared, we started up the tunnels, towards the other little warrens. These creatures operated much like rats, to my annoyance, in that if only one female survived, they would be back eventually.

Flooding each of the tunnels with alcohol, and then simply lighting a match was an interesting plan, but destructive. I didn't mind a little destructive, but setting fire to whatever was above the tunnels or collapsing the tunnels seemed extreme.

Instead, we simply flooded each tunnel, then turned the alcohol into mist, where it exited on the surface, then had the geomancers close those new tunnels, fixing whatever damage they'd done to the grid structure.

The process continued... and continued... and about a month later, it was finally done; we had traveled back and forth across the lower end of the continent, zigzagging all the way slowly to Tel-Mithras, the Lonely Caldera. I was informed that it was the staging point for the economy of this continent, and apparently the SkyPort as well.

I ran a hand through the black sand of the caldera, and hummed at the people that were only walking on the little sidewalks that populated the area, slabs of stone that were somehow much cooler than the sand. "Interesting." I nodded, and led Teagan up the ramp, into the building that served as waiting area for the airships.

It was currently deserted, as there wasn't an AirShip coming, but I hummed, lounging around with Teagan on the sofas, relaxing as the heat of the morning caught up to us, and the sun started to peek out over the horizon.

"So! Now that that's cleared up, I suppose home is the next course of action?" I asked.

He sighed. "Yes... though I'll be traveling back and forth to the library in Jerel. You, my lovely darling, need to recruit people to our Guild. We're hardly credible with only 12 members."

I laughed. "That's true... but the training in the Academy is where we're supposed to get our members, that's the whole point!"

"Hire some temps, then." He shrugged, and laid his head on my chest. "Also, screw you for being able to take this heat without an issue." He grumbled, touching my room-temperature skin, which probably felt freezing to him right now.

I raised an eyebrow. "Screw me? Right here? Oh you naughty boy..." I smirked when he sighed.

"Nope. Too hot to think about that. Need a bath and a massage before I even consider it." He said stubbornly.

I chuckled and noticed a closet on one side of the tower, under the stairs, filled with carpets. I threw him over my shoulder, and set a permanent door into the closet door, unlocking it with my key, and dragging him through the nexus, and into our house.

I plopped him down in the bathroom, running a bath, and he laughed softly. "So much better... good thinking, Lover." He started stripping, as the bath filled swiftly, and I joined him in the icy-cold bath.

—

"Recruiting, Huh? Well, it is something you'll have to do..." Hilde hummed, and pulled a book off her bookshelf. "Alright, these are all the Free-License people in the city. Giving them the opportunity to join a Guild might be advantageous, but you never know if they'll accept." She shrugged, seemingly unsure.

"And poaching from other guilds isn't allowed?" I sighed.

She laughed, patting the book. "No, dear. Not allowed."

"What about your guards? Isn't this whole place now technically the Guild Hall?" I asked hopefully.

She blinked. "Huh... well- oh, you want me to be Guild-Master, while you handle the academy." She added dryly, frowning at me.

"Or Adila. Someone you trust not to fuck things up." I shrugged.

She sighed deeply, then nodded. "Fine... I suppose this job is unnecessarily stressful... I'll let Adila take my place, then, and assume my seat on the Board of Director's as the Founder. Less work, but my opinion still carries weight, and I have the freedom to run the Guild you created."

"Was not my intention at the time. Normally I'd take the responsibility, but I don't know if I can handle that. It's been a long time since I was in command." I sighed.

She started leafing through the book. "Hmm... and in answer to your question, yes, all my members and the Golden Circle itself are now part of the Clock Warden Guild. But I want a favor. A big one." She laced her fingers together in front of her.

"Name it." I shrugged.

"Good. First a little background... you're aware that the Silver Ridge and Land of Black Sand are two continents on this planet, Abeir-Toril, also known as the Prime Material Plane, and the Realm of Vanaheim." She raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm... Yyyyyyyessss?" I said slowly.

She chuckled softly. "Right. Well, we're essentially Antarctica, if this were earth. Biggest of all the continental groupings, bottom of the world. There are other lands."

I blinked. "Whoa... Wait, so going to the 'Northern Portal'? What was that all about?"

"There's a large number of portals into the Feywilds, scattered around the world. We happen to have two, one on either side of our continent, so because we were unaware of our position on the bottom of the world, we named them the northern and southern portals. The Floating City is actually quite perfectly situated on the South Pole. The magnetic fields make it easier to float the city." She smiled.

"Whoa, Okay, then what about the sunlight 12 months out of the year?" I asked warily.

"Oh that. You've been here for maybe 4 months, but the sun is actually so close to this planet that we get sunlight here every day of the year. Also, there isn't any planetary wobbling like earth, so no. No dark months. The sunlight fades very early, in the winter months, as you've seen, but that's all." She shook her head.

"Huh... Alright. And what's this all background for?" I asked slowly.

"Have a look at this." She slid a map across the table, a nonsensical map that didn't match anything I'd seen. "That's the map of Abeir-Toril. See how the southern continents don't even register? And the northern ice sheets are ignored?"

"Shoddy map-making?" I shrugged.

"No. Careful manipulation. The southern continents have wanted to be left alone for so long that it actually influenced the minds of mapmakers to leave it alone. Right now, on that map, we are under what is known as Zakhara. Think of this place quite clearly as an ancient Earth. There's the native Americans of Maztika, the Australian aborigine's of Ossë, the Europeans of Faerün, the Asian-Polynesians of Kara-Tur, the Arabian peoples of Zakhara, and so on." She pointed to each as she mentioned them.

"Alright, I'm learning a lot... why?" I asked slowly.

"My favor requires you to travel to Evermeet, and build a branch office for my bank." She smirked.

I sighed slowly. "So, if a trip on a ship to the Black Sands takes two months... how long to reach 'Evermeet'?"

"Several more months, but with Tommy's Sparrow, it could be much less." She shrugged.

"Okay... I see what you're saying. What's my time-line? Oh, and I'm taking Teagan with me. The notes here say that Evermeet is a bunch of High-elves and Sun-Elves, so I'm taking an Elf with me. And maybe Renata, if she can tear herself away from her shop that long." I nodded.

She shrugged. "However long it takes. Could be as much as four months to get there, and you can get back instantly, so I'd say six months total? Maybe?"

"Hmph... that's not that bad, I expected worse. Alright, then I suppose it's a done deal. What's the pay like? And who else am I taking? Any of your builder mages that are high-Elves, because this says they're not friendly to non-Elves, and I'll need to build the branch office, yes? Or just a Door in a small building, and you'll expand from there?" I asked.

"Pay is four platinum for you and one per everyone else, and you'll have the blueprints of the building I'll want made. All in all, your job will be simple, and that's to oversee the process, making sure everything is safe. Head of security, essentially, while I establish an Embassy. Sort of." She grinned.

I raised an eyebrow slowly.

"Banks always precede embassy's. First you exchange money, then you exchange Greetings, and then you exchange a treaty. The Isle of Evermeet is, quite simply, the center of Elven culture in this plane. Sildelyür in the Feywilds is the capital over there. Evermeet is where almost every elf that didn't live on this continent or the Black Sands moved to, during 'The Retreat'." She explained.

"I've heard that legend, that's when all the Fey left for the Underhill, right?" I hummed.

She blinked. "I didn't think you'd recognize that legend! Go you! And yes, it is parallel. As is much of this society, actually. Oh, and don't kill anyone in Faerün or Zakhara for owning slaves, please? The isle of Evermeet doesn't allow slavery of humanoids, so at least there is free of that sickening blight upon civilization." She growled.

"No promises. So my mission is carry a message, oversee a building of a bank and a 'nondescript building of untold and probably boring use', and make sure no one dies in the process." I made air-quotes, and she laughed, slapping her desk.

"Essentially! HA!!! Oh, you are so much funnier without the stick up my rear, I tell you... yes, that is your mission." She chuckled.

"Good to know. Gather the High-Elves you trust that won't act like total dicks, because I'll punt them through a door if they do. All your diplomatic ones, the really slimy ones, you know the type. The actual builders can travel through the door once we're ready to build." I nodded.

"Good thinking, yes. How many can Sparrow carry?" She asked.

"I think 12, plus the gunners and pilots, numbering six, and also cargo equaling 50 by 100 feet, I believe." I hummed.

"Uhm-" She started, looking conflicted, then sighed. "No, Fine, you'll need the gunners for any fighting on the way..."

"I'll send them home through the vault before we land or enter their airspace or whatever." I assured her, and she let out a relieved breath.

"Good..." she nodded.

I stood, walking to the door. "Alright, I'll get myself and Teagan ready, you get your people ready."

As I exited, and closed the door, I heard Adila gasp for breath, under her desk. "Gods, luv, ye could've told me I'd be holding my breath for twenty minutes!"

I laughed uproariously. "Go you, Hilde, have your fun, you've earned it." I patted the door, and walked away, giggling softly.