It felt as if the week was never going to release her from its clutches. Each day was filled with a monotonous meeting followed by hours sitting at her desk with a never-ending pile of old paperwork. To break up the monotony, she focused on how she could best help her team.

  She looked through the Quest Flora and Fauna Department and reached out to every member, asking if any would be willing to mentor Inferno. After a look at what the department does, he insisted that’s exactly what he would like to do. He began to spend his days working through necessary training modules.

  Demetra was easier, as she already had a mentor and was already halfway through her training modules.

  Neither Ragna nor Tsunami needed as much help from her. Ragna was firmly an HR consultant, and despite his new habit of drinking fermented fruit juices, he earned his title. He was working towards the floor management program, which surprisingly was different from the leadership program. Tsunami, on the other hand, was talented and had an eye for detail when it came to quest design.

  Keylynn spent her weekend with her fungal colonies and trying to find the perfect place for Tiv to have her dirt nap. She hasn’t had someone over in her home before, let alone for a dirt nap.

  She can move her desk into her bedroom, freeing up enough floor space in her office to house them both. Because her office was the one room in her home that her fungal colonies don’t freely roam, it’s the perfect place for Tiv’s first dirt nap. That also means her bookshelves are in her office.

  What if her book collection was too overwhelming for her?

  Her office walls were lined with bookshelves spanning floor to ceiling, and they were filled with books. She has books of nearly every genre and multiple editions in different languages. She found some rare first printings of stories that she loved. Her books are the real reason her fungal colonies aren’t allowed in her office. They love to digest her oldest books. She’d let them eat a book or two if her books weren’t the only thing that she can rely on to stay the same as the world changes around her. She can crack open a book and know the story that’s held within, no matter how much time has passed since her last visit.

  But maybe she has too many books, and they are off-putting for Tiv? Or worse, what if during a dirt nap a bookshelf frees itself from the wall and dumps all her books on the orc? And it’s not like she can simply find a new home for her books; it took her ages to figure out how to keep her colonies out of her office.

  She just needs a bigger house before Tiv comes over for her dirt nap.

  Keylynn shook her head. That was a stupid solution to her problem. She wasn’t going to be able to just find a larger house with a dirt floor. And even if she could, who would be willing to rent to her? When she moved to the city roughly a hundred years ago, no one wanted the strange mushroom druid in their buildings. She only lucked out with the cottage that she has now because it was abandoned and no one knew who owned it. Back then she thought it was far too big for her.

  Maybe Barnibus and Beer can help her add a second level, but that’s not going to be an expedient process. Adding to her home not only will take a lot of time, but it will also cost her a lot of money.

  Keylynn stared at her comms device. Her problem seemed entirely one of her own making: what to do with her books? She doubted that Dauven would understand her dilemma at all, and Gwenn—it’s best not to involve her in this matter. That left Riv and Barnibus. Riv would either not respond or tell her about how her stupid math problem was ruining his chances to change his entire life. And the worst part about it is that he would solve the math problem she doesn’t have, and it would work.

  Keylynn: Hello Barnibus, it’s Keylynn. I am rearranging my home, and I am wondering if my book collection is too overwhelming, or should I relocate it to somewhere else? Do you have any way to protect books from fungal colonies?

  She paced around her sitting room waiting for a response. Slug slime covered her floor and was oozing out of her way. Some of the slime was oozing up her walls, forming the slower-moving mushrooms once more. Each slug mushroom that formed was a different colour.

  Barnibus: I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t care. Your books are impressive and should stay where they are. I don’t know of a way to completely protect your books from your fungal colonies without removing either your books or your fungal colonies from your home. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

  Barnibus told her exactly what she needed to hear. He didn’t ask her any questions and didn’t assume anything. Her books will be staying put, and she was going to have a houseguest.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  By the time the next week started, she was buzzing with so much excitement that her slug mushrooms were more active than normal. She had a range of colours of the slug-shaped mushrooms crawling up her arms, neck, and face. She made sure to catch any that released their hold on her. She received several disgusted looks from those that she walked past in the office that day, and not even those could dampen her mood. Today was Zukyov’s first day at his new job.

  Likewise, his absence wasn’t noted during the monotonous morning meeting. She doubted Akzer would want any more attention on the break room dispute than necessary. The only announcement that Akzer gave during the meeting that was worth hearing was that the break room will be opening soon.

  Her first stop after the meeting was to check on Gil; not only did she want to hear the exciting conclusion to the break room dispute, but she also wanted to see how the break room looked. She rapped her knuckles against the door gently.

  Gil cracked open the door, revealing a wide smile. “Ye got a couple of somethings on your face, but I don’t think you need me to tell ye that. Come in. I assume you’ve heard the news.” He swung the door open and motioned for her to come in.

  She looked around the break room amazed, as it was perfectly clean. The stale coffee stains and puddles were gone, as was the broken coffee machine. The only indicator that anything went amiss in the break room was the missing coffee machine. “I must know what brought an end to the dispute.” She sat down at the clean table.

  “The boss slithered in here and told me that the employee in question has been fired and will not be allowed back in the building. They told me the company was replacing my coffee machine as an apology and will procure me a bonus for all the trouble that I’ve had to endure,” Gil said, beaming at her. Even his wings seemed to sparkle. “I’m only sorry ye missed it.”

  She returned his smile with one of her own. “A resolution was more important than witnessing it. When will the break room open its doors to floor seven?”

  “As soon as the new machine arrives, I was told within a week.” He fluttered over to the standard coffee pot that every corporate employee knows how to use. “I can make you a drip coffee, or I can make you a tea if you like, and you can tell me about this nonsense that Zukyov is the one who trashed my break room?”

  She let out a sigh. “A tea would be lovely.”

  He nodded and began to work on making her tea. A mug moved from the cupboard and slid down to the counter. A peppermint tea bag from the drawer of teas gently nestled into the mug while the kettle warmed up the water. When the water was boiled, he filled the mug with hot water. A dollop of honey was stirred in before he brought the mug over to her.

  “It wasn’t Zukyov, as I’m sure you already know. He was willing to take the blame because it allowed him to start fresh at a job where he can cook all day.” She didn’t want to go into too much detail about how that was arranged. The less people know how she manipulated the floor manager, the less likely it will hinder Lark’s investigation.

  Gil gave her a skeptical look. “And the Cloaca-Hole was willing to go along with this?”

  “It did bring an end to the dispute.” She stated simply. “They mentioned that there was friction between the two of you.” She sipped her tea; it was delightful. If she thought Gil would tell her, she’d ask about where he sources his mint from.

  The goblinoid brownie frowned at her. “I don’t recall anything like that. All I know is I don’t take their crap. They demand I always have their coffee order ready, just in case they deign to slither into the breakroom. I bet if I delivered, they would demand I deliver their coffee on a set schedule.” Gil shook his head. “I refused to waste the coffee and my time to make a fresh coffee just for them every half bell. Oh, and get this: they can taste slime residue from cleaning, so I had to wash all the mugs by hand.” Gil huffed. “Slimes don’t have residues, and I ensured they washed his mugs every night.”

  “I heard from Will, sanitation services, that Akzer disdains the slimes. The big one named Sam misses you and your coffee dearly.” She sipped her tea again, letting the refreshing burst of peppermint wash over her.

  “So you spoke to Will. That means you know who broke my machine,” Gil stated, crossing his arms.

  “You already know who.”

  Gil stared at her silently.

  “Someone who can tell sanitation to leave a mess.”

  He stared for a moment longer before nodding. “Aye suppose at this point we all know who did it. That’s how you manhandled them into helping Zukyov.”

  Keylynn wasn’t expecting that. “I did no such thing. There was no handling on any men.”

  Gil let out a sigh and patted her shoulder. “It’s just an expression; enjoy your tea.”

  She returned to her desk with her tea and slowly began working on her stack of dusty paperwork. By now her team has been assigned several boxes that will take them months to finish. In truth she spent more of her time watching Pebble in their rock garden than actually working. She was certain that her little Pebble grew.

  When the midday bell rang, she joined the sea of people who all left the office and walked towards the Cup Stop. Many of them had flyers in hand advertising the new lunch menu featuring a soup of the day.

  Inside the cafe she was fortunate that Tiv had reserved her a seat at the serving counter. She heard various table and chair negotiations occurring around her and was grateful she didn’t have to partake or, worse, eat her soup standing up. She wondered how many people here knew who the new chef was.

  “The chef set aside a bowl of soup for you already; he wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it. We’ve had people ordering it for the past half bell already. And don’t worry, I saved you a cinnamon spiral.” The orc flashed her a toothy grin at her.

  “How did the investigation go?” She asked, leaning over the counter.

  “They found nothing, as I knew they would. As it turns out, I’m not an employee of the Royal Assessment yada yada.” She waved it off.

  “Before you go, how is he?”

  “Why don’t you take a peek at him yourself?” Tiv motioned for Keylynn to step behind the counter. Carefully navigating around all of the happy customers, she walked around the counter. She peered through the door that led to the back room quietly.

  The kitchen was an explosion of flour, knives, vegetables, and chaos. Zukyov never looked more alive and happy. He and Biscuit, the rabbit kin who was Tiv’s baker, worked in perfect harmony, working around each other with practiced ease.

  One moment Zukyov was stirring a soup pot and chopping vegetables to go into it, and the next moment he was being handed fresh bread from the oven that he started slicing. He was in his element, and she couldn’t be more proud. Furthermore, she couldn’t wait to taste the soup of the day for herself.