Mint Road
The soft gurgling of the Mint River melds with the breezy susurrus of swaying leaves on the opposite side of the well-worn road. At this time of day, the water sparkles and reflects brightly, making the shadows of the woods and orchards seem darker in contrast. The side road leading into the Blacktail Clan territory shows signs of recent traffic, but here on the edge there isn't any sign of activity.

After dropping off Morgan and Miranda at the Gnarly Tree, along with the needed vampire 'blood' for the Lapi's cure, Zahn and Amelia head north along the road towards the dam. The Kadie girl has been oddly quiet since leaving the witches' home, but her tail betrays a state of agitation under the surface.

"You're worried about Clover, aren't you?" Zahnrad asks as they walk down the trail.

Through clenched teeth, Amelia hisses, "I want to pull her ears off, that… conniving… GRRRRRR! She's found the perfect way to ruin me… "

"Ruin you? How does this ruin you?" Zahn asks and looks over at Amelia.

"Because I can't win," Amy snaps, abruptly. "If I rescue her, she'll be the survivor of a monster attack, and everyone will feel sorry for her. If I don't rescue her, then I'll have failed at protecting someone from monsters!"

Zahnrad pauses and rubs the back of his neck. "Or, she has become a monster herself, by her own free will. I don't see how that means you failed. Plus, getting mad about it isn't going to solve it. No problem goes away just because you get mad about it," the Kadie reasons.

"I want to break something," Amelia mutters.

"Er, don't look at me," Zahnrad says and takes a few steps away from Amelia. "And oh, I think there's a way to get to the trolls without digging out the tunnel."

"Oh?" Amy asks, looking for a distraction.

"Your secret place," Zahnrad says simply.

"That's… " Amelia starts to say, then forces herself to actually think about it. "I don't know. What if there isn't a way to open up that wall from our side?"

"Then we fall back to digging out the tunnel. It doesn't hurt to look, though. And I've heard this rumor you're living with a town engineer. Maybe he could be useful for a change," Zahn notes with a small grin.

Amelia smiles briefly, before going back to scowling. "I really don't want to have to save Clover," she admits. "Especially if she did intend to dispose of Miranda, and just got caught herself."

"Well, then save her in a suitably embarrassing way. Like, oh, stealing a potion from Morgan that makes her fur fall out or turn green, or something," Zahnrad notes with a small shrug. "If you have to save her, at least save her in a way that would be fun for you."

"You mean, save her after her face has been chewed off?" Amelia asks, looking cheerful again, but only for a moment. "No, I'd get blamed for that then. She'll find something to blame me for. 'Fooling around with Zahnrad instead of doing her job' or something."

"You're not the only member of the militia," Zahnrad points out. "Then really, you just have to find something to blackmail her with so she leaves you alone. Like, oh, proof she was trying to kill Miranda."

"Make her come up with a lame story, like she got lost in the swamps after she got separated from Emmett, or something," Zahn suggests.

"That'd be tricky," Amelia says. "I can't just blackmail her with her association with Buffy, since that would reveal Buffy. We need to find the scene of the crime – down in the Chalk catacombs."

"That should be easy. We have a way into those tunnels and one of the Chalks to help us," Zahn points out. "Plus we could probably recruit a gypsy or two to help us sneak around."

"Sure, we can send Djivan poking around a subterranean graveyard looking for troll holes," Amelia says. "Think Olivia would let us?"

"Heh. Probably not," Zahn says, "But who says she has to know?"

"The rat would probably tell her," Amy says. "And I don't like the idea of keeping it a secret from Olivia. At least we have a sort of idea what to look for."

"Well, while we debate this, let's go down to your place and do a bit of looking. After the experience with that weird door in the underground, we might be able to find a similar key slot down there, perhaps," Zahnrad suggests. "And you don't really like Djivan, do you?"

"He took Olivia away on a trip," Amelia says. "He's not from around here, so I don't trust him." She looks along the side road that leads through the Blacktail groves, and nods to Zahn. "Okay, we can look while we've still got daylight, I suppose. I'm just… a bit stressed still from everything."

"I don't particularly like him either. But she does, so I don't say anything," Zahn notes with a shrug and starts walking again; this time more in the direction of Amelia's secret place. "I'm not sure what I can do to help you relax," he admits. "When I get stressed, I build stuff."

"I chop wood," Amelia says. "But it's too early in the season for that." She leads Zahn along a different path than before, since they aren't leaving from Amy's cabin this time.

"My current project has been stressing me out a lot," Zahnrad admits quietly as they head through the woods. "I'm not sure I can get it to really work. The materials I have at hand just aren't strong enough to handle the stress put on them."

"It looked like you were having some of that stress put on you," Amelia notes, and starts sniffing the air every so often as the go deeper. Not all of the trees in this area are cultivated ones, it seems.

"What are you sniffing for?" Zahnrad asks and gives Amelia an odd look. "Anyway, it's just so frustrating to be so close … and still see it's out of your reach."

"Smoke," Amy says, a bit quieter than usual. "Roy's forge is nearby, and if there isn't any smoke it could mean he's gone or else has company."

"Company? Would that be a problem?" Zahn asks. "Surely he gets visitors looking for repairs, yes?"

"Company as in your cousin Deirdra," Amy says. "She'd probably want to know what we were doing out here together."

Zahn blinks. "Woah, wait. She's been visiting your cousin? Er, why?" he asks.

"She likes him, and he wants to make his forge hotter," Amelia says. "You met him at my induction ceremony. He's… well, he's like a Wingnut, really."

Zahn rubs the back of his neck. "Deirdre, with a boyfriend. Well, if that's possible I suppose getting an ancient engine based off a diagram in a forgotten language working should be easy," he considers.

"You could show it to Roy," Amy suggests. "He's got all sorts of old stuff like that. Books and such. I bet if you showed him the monster-metal, he wouldn't sleep again until he figured out a way to work the stuff. He writes down everything he does too, in case he wants to repeat it. Oh, and he blows himself up a lot. You must have seen the magnet trick when you were a kid."

"Er, I'm not sure I want to show the plans to anyone. The Titanian wanted to try to keep it all secret. He would have to agree to not to talk to anyone else about it," Zahnrad says, tail twitching slowly. "That metal would be ideal for this, but where would … " Zahn slaps his forehead.

Amy turns to look at Zahn, saying, "What? Did you get bit by something?"

"No. Do you remember the tower that blew off Pike's castle? Do you remember the inside being like a mirror?" Zahn asks.

"Bet I know what that stuff is," Zahnrad says with a grin. "And there was a lot of it."

"That's how you described it, yeah," Amelia says. She hadn't actually climbed up to see for herself.

"So, there may be some easy to salvage metal like that we can try to use. I only need to coat the ceramics with it to strengthen them. It doesn't have to all be that metal. Think Roy could figure out how to really work it? Er, what would it cost?" Zahn asks.

"Cost?" Amy asks, momentarily stunned by the thought of 'easy to get' miracle material. "I don't know. You mean for coating it on things?"

"For helping at all. I mean, he wouldn't do it for free, would he?" Zahn asks and pauses in his walking. "Or would introducing him to it be enough of a payment? I have a few of the tools we, ah, borrowed. He could experiment one of of them, perhaps."

"I don't know if Roy's ever done anything outside of weapon maintenance," Amelia admits.

"But, if he's willing to, bring him by my shop. I'll speak with him in the underground tunnels about the project," Zahn says and then starts walking again. "Oh, by the way, what's the best way to impress your father?"

"I haven't found a way yet," Amelia says, leading onward. Some squat, half-buried buildings might be the forge, off to the north. A rainwater collection barrel big enough to swim in rests nearby as well.

"Really? He's never been impressed by anything you do?" Zahn asks absently as he peers towards the odd buildings.

"I mean I've never seen him act impressed by anything, ever," Amelia says.

"Hm. Will, I, uh, be expected to tell him about my intentions towards you or anything?" Zahn asks, sounding a bit nervous.

"If he asks," Amy says, glancing sideways at Zahn. "Does that mean you have intentions?"

"Uh," Zahnrad says and pointedly doesn't look at Amelia.

"Nothing you've told your parents about, even?" Amy asks.

"Uh," Zahnrad says again and starts walking faster. "So, how much further?" he asks rather quickly.

Amy sighs and hurries forward before Zahn gets lost. It's another few minutes before they reach the uprooted tree and its hidden stairs.

The walk has helped calm Zahn down a bit. "My mother wants us to remain together. She says you're a good counter to me," he admits. "She also thinks I should spend time with your family, as you have done with ours. I'm rather, uh, worried about that. Mom wanted me to ask your father about it."

"It doesn't look like anyone's disturbed things," Amy reports as she moves the cover away from the stairs. "I don't know what you'd be interested in doing with my family though. We're farming when we aren't drilling."

"I would be expected to improve family relations," Zahnrad notes. "Help end the distrust. And what are you drilling for?"

"So we don't get soft," Amelia notes, heading down the stairs.

Zahnrad follows after Amelia. "Ah. Well, improving that then wouldn't be much help," he admits.

The underground tunnels and roadway are just as they had left them (and the markers Zahn placed previously don't show any increased flooding yet). The wall across from the entry to the light tower is closed as well, devoid of any markings or writing.

Zahnrad goes over to the wall and starts inspecting it closely. "Look for any slots like the one we saw in the underground," he suggests to Amelia. "Maybe there is one in the tower if not out here.

"Okay," Amy says, going over to examine the stonework around the glowing archway. "Why would they want a wall that doesn't look like it opens up though?" she asks.

"Secret passage," Zahnrad notes. "They don't want people to know where they come out," he says, then knocks on the wall with his knuckles while one ear is pressed against the wall.

"You mean the trolls made the door?" Amy asks, moving into the interior of the tower now.

The wall sounds pretty solid and thick, from what Zahn can tell.

"I rather expect they didn't. Probably the Skeeks who used to live in the underground. I wonder if this really is just a covering over something," Zahn says and starts feeling for seems in bricks or the like in the wall.

The wall seems to be one solid piece, and it has the same texture as the rest of the exposed stone. None of the mirror-smoothness of the underground canal though. Aside from the light tower, this section of the supposed city is downright primitive compared to what they've seen deeper down.

"Can I borrow one of your knives?" Zahn asks.

Amy comes out and hands Zahn one her metal stilettos. "Hey, do you know how long it takes the horns to pass over a spot at night?" she asks, referring to the 'dark' area of the Procession where Sinai's shadow falls on it.

Zahnrad uses the stiletto to carefully scrape a bit at the wall to see if anything easily comes away. "The dark spot? Well, I think about an hour. I've never really timed it, though. Why do you ask?" he asks absently.

Flakes of stone chip off easily enough. "Oh, just… nothing probably. I mean, you said to look for a slot, but there's only one slot in the tower. And it made me think, what if the key isn't something you put in, but… a time? There's always light coming down though that crystal, even at night, except maybe when the dark spot is right overhead… "

Zahnrad blinks. "That … could be possible, I guess. And you know, we could trigger that ourselves, maybe. A thick black cloth over the opening, perhaps," he muses and then offers the knife back to Amelia.

The knife vanishes back to wherever it is Amelia hides them.

"Really?" Amy asks, smiling again. "Wow, it that works, then… I'll have solved something!"

"And gotten closer to … er, never mind. Let's go see how big the hole is," Zahn says and walks into the tower quickly.

A few turns up the spiral stairs brings one close to the square opening, which really is only a few hand-widths across. The light going into it from the crystal and prism is very intense, after all.

"Or, we just need a decent mirror to cover the hole," Zahnrad notes, rubbing his chin. "Which means we need to go back to that broken tower and get a chunk if we can!" he says suddenly and rubs his hands together.

"Do we need to ask Dr. Pike first?" Amy wonders. "It's still her tower, right?"

"We're only borrowing it," Zahnrad rationalizes.

"I don't remember there being pieces," Amy notes. "You'll have to break something off."

"That may prove hard. Hm. Maybe I can get a plate off that thing in the tunnels," Zahnrad considers.

"Would a regular mirror work?" Amelia ask. "And where is it safe to reflect the light to?"

Zahnrad doesn't answer immediately. He peers at the hole, thinking. "We're being stupid," he finally says.

"Figured out we can throw a blanket over the crystal on top, huh?" Amy asks.

"I figured that there is probably just a cover door on the outside of the building that can be closed. I mean, what good is a door you can't open when you want to," Zahnrad admits.

"A door that opens at the same time every night would be better, if you didn't think your descendants would know how to open a door," Amelia offers. "Maybe it isn't even a door, but… a garbage chute or something. The street sweepers work at night, then push everything in when it opens up. Or… uh… it's something else important to underground stuff."

"A timed vault," Zahnrad says.

"The important thing is knowing how to open it and keeping it open," Amelia says.

"Well, there has to be a way to open it outside of time." He peers around the area, then back down to the bottom, trying to remember if there were any levers or odd protrusions in the room.

"Do you know where the outside of this tower is?" Zahn asks Amelia after returning from refreshing his memory about the tower.

"The bit at the top is sticking up through a giant tree," Amy reminds Zahn. "I don't know if anything shows at the base."

"Know where the tree is? I can go home and get some climbing equipment so we can scale the outside and see what is on the top," Zahnrad says as he heads down the stairs back to the floor below.

"We'd have to go through the Gnarly Wood to get to the tree though," Amelia says, sounding shocked. "I don't think we have time for something like that. We should check the catacombs first."

"If you'd prefer, I guess," Zahn says, looking a bit disappointed.

"You can take this place apart later," Amy promises. "After you've taken all the other places apart probably… "

"I'll likely be dead before then," Zahnrad notes grimly. He heads out of the tower and starts back towards the entrance to the underground. "I guess our best bet is to just go back through the underground waterway and back door. You should recruit Buffy to help with the catacombs. At least the parts she can go to. She can show us where Clover usually goes and we can look for clues, perhaps. And if that fails … well, we dig the tunnel."