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After the big meeting with the Code, Almere didn't waste any time in going up to her Wonder so that she could see if she could do the quest that it had given her. She hadn't actually tried to go up to her Wonder in the week that everything had been all weird. There had been something keeping them out of that Moon Knight's wonder, so she didn't know why it would be any different for her.

She thought she could feel the barrier as she went up to her Wonder, now. She thought that it was solid, and it took focus and willpower to break through, but maybe that was just her imagination.

Anyway, she made it, and her guests Mechelen and Rose made it, too. She gave each of their hands a squeeze and then let go as they landed in the dusty kitchen. "Okay," she breathed, and then took a look around.

Almere turned in a slow circle, then peeked through the door to the dining room. "Well, it doesn't look worse," she said. It still looked awful. There were overturned dishes scattered everywhere, and weeds starting to grow in through cracks in the hearthstones, and dust and dirt in all of the places that she hadn't gotten around to cleaning yet, which was most of them. It was still standing, though.

Still, Almere couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

"Okay, now I just have to find this mini-Code," she said. That would fix the problems even if there was something wrong. "Um, hi mini-Code," she called out into the room. "Where are you?"

Rose glanced around with interest, and absolutely no judgment for the state of the place. She hadn’t been up to her Wonder more than once so far, and on that occasion hadn’t done more than find the ring Reims had said she would need to communicate. That their Wonders might be dusty or dirty or otherwise rundown wasn’t surprising at all considering how long it had apparently been since anyone had been around to care for them before they themselves had awakened.

“The Code Piece on the moon said you should be able to sense it, right?” she said, keeping her voice low like she was trying not to disturb anything. “That it’d be in a safe place. What’s the safest spot here you can think of?”

She had some ideas about her own based on what little she’d seen of her Wonder when she went, but she knew nothing about Almere’s Wonder and didn’t know what else to suggest.

“Although… maybe what the Code considers safe is different than what we consider safe?” she wondered. “I don’t know, but these places are supposed to be sacred, right? So… there’s got to be some important spot or secret corner or something.”

Mechelen brightened when Almere said that she felt something, though frowned slightly when the something turned out to be locked…that...wasn’t the best thing ever. Rose had some really good thoughts about finding the code in a safe place, and it got her thinking of…well, trying to think of where she might find her piece, but no.

Focus.

“Have you found any keys around here? In your cleaning up, I mean? Or…I have hairpins…if anyone knows how to pick locks?” Reaching up, she pulled one of the ones that helped her head thing stay on and held it out.

“I have some like…sewing needles too? Just in case. I like sewing so, I always have some with me, a whole kit. Not that…that’s important but. If your Code piece needs something sewn, I’m your girl!”

"I think there's a way to pick locks with a credit card," said Almere. It was just the simple locks, though, like the privacy ones on bedrooms, and also she didn't have a credit card. She remembered her mom using that trick when she was about three, though, and had managed to lock all the doors in the house.

This was different. It was an ancient door, with a big keyhole. It didn't look any fancier than anything else in this building, but it still felt different. It felt fantasy It this was a DnD game, it was the kind of door you would check for traps.

Should she check it for traps now? It sounded like a good idea, but she had also never heard of anyone checking a door for traps in real life. She didn't see any wires or anything, which probably would have been the main giveaway.

"If nothing else works, I can probably break it, but I'll try this idea first," she said.

Her spoon probably would have worked for sticking in the lock, but it was still spoon goo. Luckily, she was right next to a restaurant. It only took a few seconds to hop back into the dining room and pick up a fork that had gotten thrown onto the floor during whatever had happened here.

"Just looking for something to shove in there," said Almere, and she came back with a fork. It was rusty, but it was better than goo.

Either Almere figuratively rolled a natural 20, or the door was just really, really old. It only took single good fork shove before the door popped open.

Inside, there was a desk, and a few shelves. It was an office, but Almere's gaze was immediately drawn to the back wall. There was a beautiful stained glass window, intricately designed in soft blues and violets. It depicted a unicorn, and next to it, a dragon. They stood looking gentle, eyes closed, noses touching gently as if they were old friends.

Almere gasped.

It looked like the window was lit somehow from within.

“No, but my friend Reims has a whole Cathedral with a bunch of stained glass,” Rose said. “Mine was more like… a little cottage in the woods? There was a stream nearby, but I didn’t look much further than that.”

She hung back a little, not wanting to crowd Almere, but could still see the window in question. It was beautiful.

“I hope there aren’t any dragons now,” she said, keeping her voice low like she risked attracting any by speaking too loud. Rose glanced around again as if she were intent on making sure. As far as she knew, there weren’t supposed to be any living these days, but stranger things had happened to her already. “Not unless they’re friendly.”

The depiction in the stained glass window certainly made it seem as if they could be. Still, Rose figured it never hurt to be cautious.

Mechelen gave a little laugh and nodded at Rose. “We had a whole conversation about dragons the last time we were here, we were hoping that they were like the ones in My Little Pony or Dragon Tales, friendly, talking ones, you know? I met Reims! He seems really nice, I was absolutely a ditz when I first met him, but I think we’re friends too!”

Her eyes moved swiftly to Almere and lit up when she found what had to be her Code piece. “You did it! Now…we just have to…or, you just have to resonate with it or something and…and get it fixed!”

And then they could move on to hers and Rose’s and…hopefully all of this nonsense would be over and weapons would stop melting and…

"There's some chairs here," said Almere, pointing at some of the furniture in the office. They didn't look like they were in the best shape, but maybe they wouldn't fall apart. "Or, I did bring some wipes if you want to stay busy cleaning. Only if you want, though."

There was definitely a lot of dust in the office, and in the lobby, too. She didn't know how long this was supposed to take. She smiled at them as she pulled the wipes out of her subspace pocket and laid them on the desk.

Then, she turned to the Code.

She didn't know much about meditating. The only time it was really like she went into a trance was if she got too caught up in thinking about one of her stories. Maybe she should think about the story of Almere? She tried to think about that memory she'd had, where she was checking people into the hotel. She tried to breath.

---

"We're expecting 200 guests tonight," said Almere.

She and her staff were sitting around one of the dining room tables for their meeting while Almere thumbed through her notes. "They're a party, coming in after the ball around midnight, and they've ordered the dessert package."

Her favorite dragon, Bartholomew, looked up at her from where he was curled up under the table, and he shoved his snout into her hand so that she could give him some scritches. She obliged before returning to the list.

"We'll go for the regular variety of cakes, and the seasonal fruits and teas. Angela has already been working on some sherbets and meringues. I've been asked to personally select the wines, and I'll have a list to you by this evening."

She fixed her gaze on a younger kitchen staff member, who blanched slightly. "Do not use the apricots we got in from Venus." That girl had a tendency to be heavy handed with the specialty ingredients. "Those are for Sunday."

She leaned back slightly.

"We'll have to have multiple seatings, so waitstaff should be trying to move people through. Suggest the seating areas outside if they're lingering after they're done with their food. I'll be out front, greeting the guests, and if needed, I can put out fires."

Somehow, there were always fires. Every once in a while, they were literal. She glanced towards Bartholomew.

Then she folded her hands in front of her.

"Questions?"

---

Almere blinked her eyes open. The Code seemed steadier, somehow, in her hands. She looked over her shoulder, seeing if the other girls were still around.

"I think I did it?"

Rose went around dusting, too. First in the office, then a little bit in the lobby. She was careful not to disturb anything other than the dust, unsure what might be important and what wasn’t. Normally she would have chatted about anything that came to mind, but the situation seemed a bit too solemn for all that. She didn’t want to distract Almere. Mechelen seemed to be of a similar mind.

When Mechelen sat, Rose followed, sharing smiles and the occasion quiet look, enjoying her company. Almere was done soon after. Rose didn’t know how much time had passed, but it seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.

“That wasn’t so bad,” she said—still in a quiet tone, like she didn’t want to offend or disturb the Code by speaking any louder. “Considering all the trouble we’ve been having lately, I almost expected the solution to be a bit more difficult.”

Rose was grateful that it didn’t appear to be. It gave her more confidence for when they eventually visited Mechelen and her own Wonder.