Minx' face grew cold. "You do have an underground shelter, right?"
Valone flinched at her expression, "yes, ..o. of course, Your Highness."
She nodded once, "take me to where you grow your food."
He stumbled as he stepped back, turned around and walked into the ruins. He led them into what was once a house. Covered with leaves, just like the rest of the floor was a stairwell. The whole party descended into quasi- darkness. The smoke from the torches burned their eyes. Then the stench hit.
Living underground became a requirement for survival, but hygiene was lacking. They didn't have access to fresh water and bringing it in was too difficult. They also didn't have an effective method of getting rid of waste. What they had was a long tunnel away from away from the living spaced, but after a while, the smell reached them.
"Valone, where do you get fresh water from," Minx had to ask.
"From the showers that fall from the sky. We ration it to make sure it lasts until the next one," he responded.
"If we could make a small pool of water for you, where would you like it?" she couldn't help but ask.
He was getting ready to answer when she heard voices and didn't like what she was hearing. She grabbed his arm, pulling him back, "what's going on?"
"The great selection…" he replied, his eyes welling with tears.
"Great selection…." Midas was the one who responded to him. "Selecting which among you will be fed to the monsters."
Valone nodded, not trusting his voice. He led them to the back of a rather large cavern, the most lit of all they had seen since they entered.
"All of our elders volunteered long ago. Now… the selection falls to this, choosing who is the most ill."
Minx shook her head, "I can't watch this. Take me to where you'd like a pool of water."
"Follow me," he said as he turned around and left. "The fairies in the castle created a pool that the water runs down into, but it doesn't last long. Well… it lasts longer with each cycle… Our numbers grow smaller."
Minx responded confidently, "the people I have with me are strong and have yet to enter the fight. We are not yet weary."
They had traveled perhaps two or three stories down to get where the people were. They were now walking at an incline. Soon, they were in a stone cavern but the pool in it was small given the number of people they saw.
Midas and Aqua stepped forward, needing no prompting. Midas tested the stone. It was soft enough for him to alter. He tripled the size of the pool, even put in a set of stairs so, as the water level got low, they could still access it. Satisfied it was big enough, Midas stepped back, clapping aqua on the back as he did.
Aqua looked at the pool and knew this was going to be a while. He opened his hands in front of himself, angled toward his target and water began spraying from his hands. He held them there until he ran out of MC. It was mostly full, but he wasn't happy. He wished Sil was there to fill it the rest of the way.
Instead, he returned to the group, "I'd like to come back after some rest and put more in there."
Valone's jaw dropped, "are you a water fairy? I see no wings!"
Aqua shook his head, "Minx found us on another world. She brought us all back to fight the monsters."
He didn't think building her up as a hero would be a bad thing. Still her cheeks grew just a bit greener as she blushed.
"Do your people have enough blankets?" Midas was shocked to hear such words escape his sister's mouth. He lost track of how many blankets she had purchased over the years. To say it was large was an understatement.
"All of our settlements shiver in the darkness. It is hardest on our young ones who require warmth for health. Alas, we know not what to do. The castle has even expended so much of its resources to keep us alive and it weakens them."
Valone seemed very sincere and Minx decided there had to be a reason she had become a blanket hoarder.
"Take us back to that large meeting room." Minx stated it as an order not a request.
In the cavern, there were three people crying around a woman younger than her. They were still arguing over who the second offering would be.
Trying not to be noticed, Minx noticed a stone bench no one was sitting on. She walked over to it and drew a circle in the air. A glowing red fire appeared. She stuck her arm in and started pulling out blanket after blanket. The pile was taller than she was and she started a second one. She pulled one out, looked at it, and put it back in. She pulled out others she was willing to part with.
She stood there thinking, not realizing all eyes were now on her. She had also collected bedrolls in case they were needed. She brought five times more than her party needed. She pulled out 15 and added them to the pile.
Then she thought about the prepared foods she had in there. She couldn't help it. She produced a feast for them then asked Valone to show them the growing fields.
"They are on the surface, Your Highness…" he said with his voice full of wander.
She smiled softly, "let's go then."
She waved to the rest of those in the hall then followed Valone. Caser waved, followed her, then the rest also waved.
On the surface, Minx found the garden as dismal as the last one. She added nutrients and expanded on it greatly. Then she advanced the grow time so they could eat some of it tonight. She had her two kitchens, having given the one Kattie wanted to her, in her dimensional storage. The locals were impressed with her "magic."
Once Aqua recovered enough to fill the pool, Valone took him down. When they returned, Minx asked the most important question of the hour.
"How do these monthly exchanges normally go?"