We had just finished clearing the table after a big family dinner when Tabitha suddenly perked up. “Britear says we have guests,” she announced before looking at me. “That’s probably Danella and Gro.”

  “Or just Danella if she couldn’t find him,” I pointed out, thinking back on our wager.

  Willow was the first to react with a dramatic gasp. “I gotta show them Princess Baby Rumblejump!” she yelled excitedly, standing up from where she was playing with her familiar and running towards the door. Before she got there, she stopped. I could see the gears turning in her head before she turned and scampered towards me. My daughter grabbed my hand. “But it might be a stranger so I need an adult.”

  “Yes, you do,” I agreed with a smile.

  She took me by the hand and started leading me downstairs. Rumblejump leapt onto Willow’s shoulder once she caught up, and hid against my daughter’s neck behind her hair. Tabitha joined us along with Emilia, though the Elves seemed unsure on whether or not they should join us.

  “Sit tight, we’ll probably be back up soon if it’s Danella,” I told them.

  “Or if it’s Danella and Gro,” Tabs quickly added.

  I gave her a look of feigned exasperation before we headed downstairs. Willow was excited to see her auntie and uncle, and she tried to take the stairs down two at a time. That was impossible since she was still holding onto my hand, so I picked her up to give her a ride on my shoulders so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

  There was another set of knocks as we made it to the ground floor. I stood to the side with both of my daughters, letting Tabitha answer the door. She opened it to reveal a Human woman slightly older than we were..

  Danella had been the Reliable Rhodes’ team medic. She was a priestess of Sasalarn, one of many goddesses of the sea, and had been both of great help and hindrance as a member of the party. Helpful because she was very reliable and caring, but it was annoying to travel with her at times due to her great beauty.

  I had gotten a little short with Cojisto when he had mentioned the stories telling of her looks, but it wasn’t inaccurate. Danella’s blond hair, clear blue eyes, and… more had turned many heads back in the day from adventurers to nobles to more. Even now, her beauty only seemed enhanced by age as she flashed us a dazzling smile.

  “Hello, my friends,” she greeted.

  That was when I thought my victory was complete. There was no Orc.

  And then my dreams were dashed when the man leaned over and his grayish-green head popped into view. “Hey there, folks!” he said with a toothy grin.

  Adjusting his glasses, he stepped behind Danella so he wasn’t hiding around the corner. Gro Khal, Reliable Rhode’s archer, was large even for an Orc. Back in the day he had kept relatively fit due to working out with Ulrich every morning, but he hadn’t kept it up much these days. He looked right at me and must have seen the look on my face because he reached up and scratched at the halo of gray hair atop his head.

  “Not so happy to see me?” he asked.

  “Very happy, Uncle Gro!” Willow yelled before I could chastise him for being late, causing me to wince since she was so close to my ear. She started wiggling, trying to get down. “And Auntie Dannie, you gotta meet my new friend!”

  I let my daughter down and she ran to the doorway. Tabitha caught her with a laugh. “Let them get inside first,” she said.

  Willow pouted, but nodded. Danella smiled down at her and booped her nose with a finger. “It’s good to see you, muffin. I’ll gladly meet your new friend, we just need to get situated first.”

  The priestess entered. She managed to embrace Tabitha in greeting before Willow wiggled free so she could immediately tackle the woman, and she picked up the girl with a smile.

  My daughter wasn’t willing to wait until our guests had settled. “She’s right here!” she announced, moving her hair out of the way so that Rumblejump was visible. The frog let out a small croak.

  “Oh, and who is this?” Danella asked, unperturbed at the sight of the amphibian.

  The girl beamed. “Princess Baby Rumblejump! She’s my friend and familiar. I’m magic now!”

  “Wow! You’re going to have to tell me all about her once we’re settled in.”

  Gro followed after grabbing a few bags that had been put down beside him. “The usual rooms?” he asked, nodding towards the stairs.

  “Oh, we actually have two others staying with us right now,” Tabitha said as she closed the door behind him. She glanced at me. We only had three guest rooms on our side of the house. There were some available at the tavern, but that seemed so impersonal.

  “Sorry, Gro. You mind sleeping in the lounge for now?” I asked.

  “I’m fine with having Aunt Danella sleep in my room,” Emilia offered. “I can sleep in Willow’s room.”

  My youngest gasped. “We can make a blanket fort!”

  “That sounds delightful. Thank you, Calico,” Danella said, using her community name, before offering the arm that wasn’t holding Willow. “But are you too old to give your auntie a hug?”

  Emilia seemed to try to hold herself back before smiling and approaching the priestess. They embraced before she turned to the Orc, who was still standing at the closed door. “Come on, Uncle Gro. I’ll take you to the room you’ll be staying in.”

  “I’ve got my stuff and Dannie’s here, so lead the way,” he said before holding up the bags. Emilia did as instructed, and the two headed upstairs.

  “Who are these other guests of yours?” Danella asked, shifting Willow in her arms.

  “Ferry and Dals!” my daughter answered. “They work for daddy.”

  “Badger here has two rookies under his wing,” Tabitha added before offering their full names. “Ferrisdae and Dalsarel.”

  “Oh, have you finally loosened up some?” Danella teased, looking down at me. “Last I heard, your boss decided not to saddle you with any apprentices because you kept scaring them off, and now you have two?”

  “Not by choice,” I said, frowning.

  The woman whistled. “Oh, and just a frown? Not even a scowl? You must really like them. Or, what was it you would say? You must really be able to tolerate them?”

  Now I was scowling. “Are you going to be like this the whole time?”

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  “Only until you lighten up,” she claimed before drawing me into a hug as well. I sighed, but allowed and returned it.

  “Well, you could have done me a favor and left Gro behind,” I grumbled. “You lost me a bet by bringing him along.”

  Danella laughed, her gaze turning to Willow who was having a very serious whispered conversation with Rumblejump. “What can I say? Tabitha wanted me to keep an eye out for him and I recently unlocked a new level of connection with my goddess, so I used some of the magic I received to locate him.”

  “You did?” Tabs asked, moving to sit on the couch. “Last I heard you were complaining about the wall you had hit and how you haven’t made progress in years.”

  “Yeah, it was the strangest thing,” the priestess replied. “I had pretty much given up on ever reaching a higher echelon of strength, but it all hit me at once some months ago. Swam right through that wave like it wasn’t even there. I mean, goddess, I feel like I’m 20 again. It’s been wonderful.”

  I shared a look with my wife. “That sounds like the results of the Thousand Year Blizzard disappearing.”

  “I had heard about that,” Danella said, nodding. “But other than the experiences of those at the temple, I don’t have much to say on the matter.”

  “It’s fine. We already have some results from inside the house,” I said, shooting a glance at Tabitha.

  She looked away with an innocent smile. Danella caught this and tilted her head. “You’ve noticed an increase in strength as well, Tabs?”

  “Just a little bit,” she answered. “I’ve done some work with junior adventurers over the past few months to see where all this ambient magic raised me to. Nothing to get worked up about.”

  I sighed, but also couldn’t help but feel pride for her. “What she’s not telling you is that she’s been soloing dungeons in her free time,” I explained. “So, there’s that.”

  “You’re back as an adventurer?” Danella asked, putting a hand over her mouth in surprise. “Training up the young ones is one thing, but soloing dungeons? You didn’t tell me you returned to that life!”

  Raising an eyebrow, I turned to my wife. “You didn’t tell her why we needed someone to watch the kids?”

  “Perhaps this’ll be a better conversation to have once Gro is back,” Tabitha said, avoiding the question. She jumped back onto her feet and extricated Willow from the priestess’ arms. She had still been in hushed conversation with Rumblejump, but the change caused her to snap out of it. “Willow, could you go and help Calico clean up from dinner if the girls haven’t already? And send Ferry and Dals down with Gro, if you would.”

  “But I wanna hang out with Auntie Dannie!” she protested, pouting.

  “You know that she’s going to be watching you and your sister while your mother and I are out beating up bad guys, right?” I asked her.

  Willow paused at that, her pout deflating, before nodding. “We’re going to have a loooong sleepover,” she said, calming down. The girl turned to run to the stairs, but stopped and turned back to us. She pointed at Danella. “And Princess Baby Rumblejump says it’s good to meet you.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet her, too,” the priestess responded, watching the girl bound up the steps. “Kids are so pure and refreshing, aren’t they?”

  “Mine certainly are precious, yes,” I replied, causing her to giggle.

  We settled in and I got drinks for everyone from the Bottom’s Up, anticipating what Ferrisdae, Dalsarel, and Gro would want. I handed both Tabitha and Danella the wine they asked for as the others were coming down.

  “Two apprentices?” Gro asked as he came down the stairs, his eyes immediately locking with mine. “You’re telling me that you’ve gone soft enough to have not just one, but two of them?”

  “I already poked that badger, dear,” Danella said. “The answer is yes, and he can tolerate both of them.”

  “High praise,” he whistled.

  I shook my head. “Inviting you two here was a mistake,” I sighed. “Since you’ve already met Gro, this is Danella. Danella, the Forest Elf is Ferrisdae and the Dark Elf is Dalsarel.”

  “A pleasure to meet you both,” the priestess greeted, standing up.

  “And to meet you,” Ferrisdae replied, offering her hand only to get a hug from the Human woman.

  Dalsarel was not excluded from this as she received one as well. The Dark Elf seemed uncomfortable with the forced contact, but took it in stride. I understood that all too well, but Danella was a hugger when she felt safe enough to be one. It was nice that she was that comfortable in our home knowing that no one was going to try to take advantage of her nature. We both knew that, if anyone tried anything, I would immediately remove them.

  The moment everyone sat down and started drinking, Danella gave my wife a sidelong look. “Gro Khal, did you know that our dear Tabitha here has been dungeon diving?” she asked.

  Blinking, the Orc stopped mid-sip of whiskey as his eyes flicked between the two women. He slowly pulled the glass from his mouth and swallowed. “No, I hadn’t been told that at all,” he answered. “I sort of assumed that everyone but Badger had settled down and gotten out of that life.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me getting back into the swing of things,” Tabs defended. I could tell she wanted to cross her arms, but didn’t want to come off as petulant to the friends she hadn’t seen in a long time.

  “I’m not mad about it or anything, it’s just surprising,” Gro assured, waving his hand. “I mean, you have the tavern and your kids so I figured you’d have your hands full all the time, especially with Badger out traveling all the time.”

  “A lot of things have happened in the past few months, most of which were centered around my husband,” she said, giving me a look.

  “What I do is not adventuring,” I told her flatly. “I inspect what the adventurers plunder, and get rid of the bad eggs. It’s bureaucracy with a few extra bells and whistles. They just happen to be very sharp sometimes.”

  “And the world is better for it,” Danella said, raising her glass. She looked at the two Elves. “I’m assuming you know certain things about Badger since he has trusted you enough to invite you into his home?”

  “I found out by accident when a friend of ours figured out his identity,” Ferrisdae admitted.

  “And I found out about it from living here,” Dalsarel said. “Tabitha was gracious enough to invite me to stay here while I save up enough to afford my own place, unlike this freeloader.”

  “I was also invited,” the Forest Elf retorted, rolling her eyes. “Plus, you’ve been working at the DoD for a few months now and almost all of your expenses are paid for when you’re on the clock. You should have been able to save more than enough to rent someplace out.”

  “Yes, because I’m paying rent here,” the other Elf stated. “Of my own accord, not because it’s asked of me. I’m not going to stay here, take up space, and eat their food without giving something back. It works out for both of us, because I’m not a freeloader.”

  “Girls,” Tabitha said warningly when Ferrisdae turned red and was about to argue. They both went stiff.

  “That’s a familiar dynamic,” Gro chuckled, looking at me specifically. “How is Sophia doing these days?”

  “Seeing as she’s an immortal Demon that thrives off of the twisted pain and suffering of others, I’d say the same as she was the last time you came through,” I answered dryly.

  “She’s doing well,” Tabitha said, rolling her eyes. “Received a promotion, actually. She’s no longer the DoD liaison, but a High Mage within the guild. It’s been a long time coming, honestly.”

  “Good, she deserves something nice like that,” Danella said as she leaned against my wife, who did the same, both of their wine glasses were already empty. I would not be filling them again, especially since the priestess got more cuddly and handsy the more she drank.

  “What happened between Badger and Sophia back then?” Ferrisdae asked quickly, getting the question out before I could stop her. “No one around here will tell us.”

  “Because it’s not important,” I said firmly before giving Danella and Gro a glaring look. “Neither of you answer that. They don’t need to know every detail of our adventures.”

  “But she just wants to know more about her mentor, Badger,” Danella argued, trying not to giggle. “A few stories wouldn’t hurt.”

  I glared at her specifically, and she couldn’t contain herself any longer. “I’d rather not.”

  “That story’s not so interesting, anyway,” Gro said, keeping his eyes on Ferrisdae and avoiding looking at me. “Now, has anyone told you the story of how Badger joined us? That’s a good one.”

  “No, but I really want to hear it,” the Forest Elf replied, scooting to the edge of her seat. Even Dalsarel leaned forward.

  “I think we need to discuss why we need babysitters in the first place since neither of you have apparently been told,” I interjected, cutting off the topic before it could even get started. “We’re going to the Southern Continental Dungeon. I’m leading a special operation team, which these two apprentices and Tabitha will be a part of. We need you two to watch our children because, while I would prefer Tabs stay, she won’t and I trust you both.”

  Danella sat up as she received the news, and Gro stared at me with wide eyes. He was the first to move, drinking down the rest of his whiskey, and he sighed. “I think I’m going to need another drink.”