The next few days were much the same as what came before them. Jay quickly amassed a stockpile of water and healing cores and new members were carried through the first floor of the dungeon.
Some of the more powerful groups might have been alright in the second floor, but Jay wanted to keep risks to a minimum. Instead, their small community finished their stone defenses, planted some magic seeds that were supposed to grow in days instead of weeks, and dined on cooked monkeys and birds.
Andrew seemed to have found himself a job carrying heavy objects, especially with the help of his 2 pets. Sarah was most often found in the kitchen, surrounded by others—which unfortunately meant Jay hadn't had the time to talk to her.
Pete and Kyle seemed to have started patrolling their area, hoping to find a low-level monster they could handle, albeit with little success. And Eve had returned to making arrows and other magically-conceived items of use.'
Everyone carried a backup melee weapon, now, and Jay was working with Eve to figure out if there was a way to enchant them. They'd tried the store, but the grumpy dwarf said it would take a few days for 'Enchanting for Dummies' to come in. Whether that was really the title was yet to be determined.
With their base of sorts well established, many people began expressing a greater desire to do something. And more importantly, they wanted a leader.
Jay had become something of an unelected leader, but he'd heard several people whispering about wanting an election (not that he knew how that'd work). Just another thing he should talk to his party about.
Jay ended his attempts at enchanting early today, hoping to talk to Sarah. If it was before the dinner rush, he thought he might have a chance to get her to talk.
He wandered over to the 'dining hall' and quickly found out she was upstairs. Hoping to catch her alone, Jay walked up and knocked on her door.
"Just a moment! I'll be right there!" came a groggy voice. "Jay, what are you doing here? Is it time for me to make dinner already?" Sarah looked exhausted. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but she was up before everyone else and was the last to go to bed. It made sense she'd be tired.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were sleeping. I can come back later. It's just that I want to talk—at some point. It's important." With that said, Jay left Sarah to collapse exhausted back into bed. Maybe this talk didn't go as planned, but at least she knew he wanted to talk. That was good, right?
At dinner that night, Sarah looked a bit tired and worried, as if she hadn't slept. Which made sense, considering Jay interrupted her sleep. But still, it wasn't like Sarah to show that side of her to the rest of the group. Somehow, this just made Jay feel worse.
How had his attempts to say "I'm sorry people died" ended with Sarah tired and worried and still angry with Jay? Whatever God allowed this apocalypse must hate him.
Dinner that night was more subdued. While many of their group chattered as they regularly did, it was still quieter and more reserved than normal. Where before people were full of hope and ambition, now they seemed to be mellowed out. It was quite strange, given that nothing had changed. "That's the power of an energetic cook, I guess."
"Yeah, you can say that again. Sarah's the best cook in town! I'm so glad we have her. I mean, can you imagine eating charred monkey gut? It'd be gross. Well, maybe Bluejay and Addy (Andrew had finally chosen a name for the fox) would eat it. Or Silver, maybe."
As he said that, Silver stole another slice of meat off Jay's plate. Sure, he'd forgotten to feed the cat first, but that was HIS meat. If Silver weren't so cute, he'd be in so much trouble. Still, Jay had plenty of overcooked bird meat, so it wasn't like he would go hungry.
The last few people filtered out of the house for the night and only Andrew, Sarah, Jay and their pets were left. Andrew found an excuse to go upstairs with his pets, and suddenly it was just Jay and Sarah. Silver sat idly on Sarah's lap, enjoying her petting him and preventing her from bolting.
"Sarah, I know it's been a hard couple of days, but I need you to talk to me. Ever since Luke passed, you won't even look me in the eye, and I need to know why." Perhaps not the smoothest transition, but Jay really needed to know. How could he trust a party member that hates his guts?
She sighed. "It's not all about you, Jay. Luke was a close childhood friend. He was pompous and a showoff, but he was also kind, brave and funny. If it'd been anyone else that died that day, I think I could have coped. But you only lost Luke." Yikes. No wonder she'd been pissed.
"I'm sorry. If I could bring him back, I would. So few of us have people from our past. I'll see if the dwarf knows anything when I visit him. He might not be willing to tell me, but if it can be bought, you can be sure he'll stock it." It wasn't a perfect solution, and maybe it was wrong to give Sarah hope, but so much had changed. Why couldn't the rules of life and death change, too?
"I'd appreciate that a lot. I don't mean to be mean; I just don't want anyone else to die. Cooking helps. I know I'm doing something. Just, let me have that. Please?" Jay wasn't about to take away Sarah's only coping mechanism. If she didn't already hate him, she definitely would if he did that.
"Keep cooking. Remember to get enough sleep, though. And levels. You need to stay leveled if we want a chance to live through this. Join us on an expedition. We'll protect everyone we can."
That was the best Jay could do. The rest depended on Sarah. Hopefully, she'd heal and be back stronger than ever. If not, he'd protect her the best he could. Right now, just about everyone was doing something, but he could see a few on the edge of despair. He would protect them.
After their heart-to-heart, Jay went up to bed. He could still hear Sarah washing dishes when he fell asleep, and he hoped she'd get some actual sleep soon. And then it was morning.
The biggest surprise that day was that Sarah wasn't up when Jay woke up. The morning crew said they were letting her sleep in. The food wasn't quite as good as normal, but it certainly could have been worse.
When Sarah still hadn't got up around lunch, Jay and his party members figured they'd check up on her. They each grabbed a plate of food for her (because, as Andrew said, "who knew how hungry she'd be") and headed to her room.
Jay knocked softly, hoping to rouse her gently from sleep. He heard a few footsteps and then a very tired Sarah was standing in front of them. The group of worried friends pushed their way into her room and offered her the food they'd brought.
By the time she got to Pete's plate, she was clearly full. Still, she did her best to eat some of his food to make sure she didn't hurt his feelings. Seeing Sarah sleeping and eating properly, the whole room exploded into cheers. Then, Sarah promptly kicked them all out for being too loud.
By dinner time, Sarah was back to her energetic, kind self. She was commanding the kitchen like a drill sergeant, with each cook somehow handling 3 tasks at once. Sarah, herself, was running everywhere to double-check their cooking before serving the food to the waiting workers.
When Pete, Andrew, Kyle and Jay arrived, Sarah found time to come and chat a bit about the dungeon. With all of them being at least level 3, they thought they might try the next floor of the dungeon. With any luck, they'd be able to get some different cores. Maybe a fire mage or a dedicated lightning mage. After all, Jay had already shown how powerful those spells could be.
The water mages were coming along nicely, too. Some of the more talented ones (and it did seem that some people were naturally more talented than others) were able to change it between water, ice and steam. One girl could even make shields of each of the types, although the ice and water shields seemed to be the most useful.
Their group agreed to ask her to join them on their next dive and headed to bed. They needed to get their rest. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.