Hey Diary,

  We made it to Nineport! Tomorrow we’re leaving for Eightport, but day after tomorrow we’ll stop and spend a day just playing at a beach. I’m excited.

  There was a Beastmaster in the guild hall at dinner, and he told me all about sea animals. He said whales swim way out away from shore, so I’m not likely to hear from one, but he doesn’t know my range is like… several miles. So I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to meet a whale. I’ve already met a sea turtle and an eel and lots of crabs and a couple octopi.

  I’ll have to see if there are any sharks around. Dad would be so jealous if I got bit by a shark. I’ll have to ask one to bite my elbow, and then make sure the scars stay, just so I can show him someday.

  Oh! It turns out that yes, ocean water tastes very salty. It is extreme salt. Like, there’s no doubt that this stuff has tons of salt in it. It’s kinda nasty.

  Anyways, here in the city we picked up a bunch of things for better camping. Everyone else got mattress pads, but I can sleep on my flying carpet, and it’s very comfy. We got a tarp in case of rain, and a few extra cooking things so I’m not limited to one pot, and we all got mosquito nets.

  Other than that, Echo took us to a sports shop, and we got a few things to try out in the water. She got a bunch of little fins for her to make surfboards with, and we all got inflatable tubes, and Luke and I got fishing nets, and of course we got ear and eye protection so we can dive.

  So yeah, I’m ready for the best day ever.

  Signing off,

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  Stolen novel; please report.

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  Twenty-five days until the continent cracked.

  The Watcher of Tiros decided to introduce goblins as a race in her world. After all, having hobgoblins but not goblins had always felt silly to her.

  She decided to put them underground. When all the earthquakes happened, kobold tunnels would break into goblin tunnels, and thus goblins would be discovered by the outside world.

  Which meant she had to shove a bunch of caves and tunnels into her planet’s crust, but that was fine. Her area of expertise had been river systems, so she just whipped up a batch of giant underground rivers, then would empty them a week before the main event and scatter some villages around. Easy.

  What made it even easier was that kobolds, the only subterranean race, mostly inhabited Owonyan, on the east side of the continent. Putting goblin caves into the center of the continent would mean they naturally wouldn’t have crossed paths until now. No one would question it.

  And the beauty of it was, she only needed to have like a dozen towns fully built and populated. Just say maps aren’t a thing goblins have, and she could fill out the caves at her leisure.

  But still, doing this all by herself wasn’t wise. So she popped her knuckles and messaged her old coworker.

  [Calvin…

  I’m building a subterranean goblin civilization and could use your help. 14 days. Get paid in any amount of gold you name.]

  A few seconds later came his reply.

  [Don’t you have a bunch of kids who work for you now, whose future jobs will literally be building worlds for you?]

  [They’re busy! Except for one, I guess I could see how the fairy does… But that’d be training! I need someone already familiar with the system!] There was a pause that lasted longer than usual, so she sent another message. [I’ll let you put dinosaurs in.]

  That got an immediate response. [Give me a day to pack for the sake of looking normal, and let me bring Emmy.]

  Bonnie grinned. [So in love you can’t spend two weeks away from your wife?]

  [No, it’s called “lingering trauma”.] His glare was felt from a dimension away.

  [Fine, bring her. You get 24 hours to pack. Walk out of town like mortals and I’ll pick you up where no one can see.]

  [Deal.]

  Bonnie sat back, checked Jasmine’s location, and pulled her into the Void. It was time to see if this kid was good at anything.