"So I was thinking, maybe tomorrow I should start working on more cave-homes for everyone?" I suggested in between bites of my dinner. "There's room on the cliff face to either side of us, I figure we could fit three or maybe four more similar homes along this stretch."

"So we just need to figure out where you want yours to go, and what sort of floor plan you'd like," I added before enjoying another bite of chicken.

We'd all finally put our phones aside about an hour and a half earlier, around the same time afternoon gave way to evening. There was still a lot of activity in Gaia's new chat app, but it seemed like the initial flood had finally started to wane. It was interesting though, and I was sure we'd all made a few more online friends around the world.

Before the daylight faded too much Stef and I gave Silvia a quick tour of our home and the immediate surroundings, so she knew her way around indoors and out. And needless to say, she was amazed to learn we had both a functional kitchen and washroom, complete with working plumbing. She'd also changed out of her ill-fitting military fatigues. It turned out Silvia and Flora were roughly the same size, so she'd borrowed a pair of jeans and a hoodie Gaia originally brought for our deer girl.

Then as the sun began to set Charlotte asked about dinner, which became our next order of business. And it was another team effort too. Flora rounded up more firewood, then Theo made sure it burned just fine. Stef and Charlotte prepared the food and drinks for everyone, then I helped cook the meal over our fire pit. It was finally dark out by the time everything was ready, but that was fine. It felt like a cross between camping and a little backyard party, now that there were six of us gathered around enjoying our food.

Our newest friend seemed a bit overwhelmed at times, but whenever any of us asked how she was doing the ponygirl assured us she was good. And she definitely looked like she was enjoying dinner, along with the rest of us.

"Actually I don't think we've discussed Silvia's sleeping arrangements for tonight," Stef chimed in at that point. The catkin looked to our newest friend and told her, "You're welcome to crash in our living-room, until Stella sorts out something permanent for you. The sofa in there's fairly comfortable. We actually used it as our bed at first, before my little star added more rooms to the place."

The ponygirl smiled, "Thank you, I appreciate that."

Meanwhile Charlotte and Flora looked at each other, then the deer girl replied to my earlier suggestion. "We appreciate the offer Stella, but if it's all the same to you and Stef we're happy staying with you? The room you made for us is very comfy, and it's nice being together with friends."

"Sure," I nodded, "That works too, if it's what you want to do. I just figured you and Charlotte might appreciate the privacy of having your own place."

Flora smiled, "After I get a bit better with my magic I should be able to come up with some real wood doors for all the rooms. I think once we have proper doors on the bedrooms and bathroom that should take care of most of our privacy needs?"

"I think sticking together's important," Charlotte added. "It follows with the stuff Gaia was saying yesterday, about pooling our magic? We've already got the four classical elements covered, plus Flora's plant magic. And I'm sure when Silvia gets her magic that'll help too. If we're all split up into separate homes then each one will be missing some parts of the puzzle."

The ponygirl blushed when her name came up. She glanced around at the rest of us and asked nervously, "Do you really think I'm going to get some kind of magic?"

Stef nodded, "Pretty sure. In our experience the transformation comes first, then the magic develops within the next twenty-four hours or so."

The catkin went on to describe how the two of us discovered our magic after our unexpected dunk in the lake next to the mountain. Then Theo shared his story, and finally both Charlotte and Flora shared theirs.

"Swimming seems to help," the little mink girl added with a grin. "Also it might make our magic stronger. So we should probably all go swimming again soon."

That led to a couple laughs and eye-rolls as Flora responded, "Of course the mink girl wants to get back into the water again!"

My tails swished around as I smirked, "If we're not making new cliff-side homes tomorrow we'll need to find something to pass the time. And you know sooner or later it'll be too cold for swimming. So unless someone has a better idea..."

Sure enough that earned me some laughter and eye-rolls as well, but it turned out one of our friends did have another idea.

"Actually there's something else we should do first," Charlotte said.

Flora gave her a suspicious look and joked, "Ok who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?"

The mink girl protested, "I'm not saying no to swimming! Just that there's another thing that's almost as important."

"Gaia said everything on our land belongs to us now, remember?" she continued. "So what do you all think about visiting one of our new wineries? I'll bet there's loads of stock just sitting there since the mountains first appeared last month. We should really go and rescue it."

To everyone's surprise it was Silvia who responded first. The ponygirl nodded, "There's definitely some wine out there. I know a few other conscripts have been visiting the nearest winery, in Mitterretzbach. Every time they go out on a patrol in that direction they make a point of 'checking' the place, and of course they liberate a few bottles each visit."

"What?!" Charlotte gasped in mock horror. Or maybe she was seriously upset as she continued, "The Bundesheer is stealing our wine?! Now we have to go! First thing in the morning, we need to go and save our precious resources!"

Stef asked, "So is that what we're doing tomorrow? Hike out to our nearest winery and haul back as much wine as we can carry?"

"Yes!" our mink girl friend insisted.

Flora smiled and shrugged, "Works for me."

Silvia offered, "I'll do what I can to help."

"What about you Stella?" my enbyfriend asked as they looked to me. "Do you want to go on a wine hike tomorrow?"

I hesitated slightly before responding, "Actually I was thinking I should probably stay here and do some construction work after all?"

My ears and tails drooped slightly when I saw the way everyone else was staring at me, so I elaborated. "If we're all going to keep living in the same home then I think we need to expand it a bit more. For one thing I'm sure everyone will appreciate a bigger bathroom. And I need to make a bedroom for Silvia. Maybe another guest room too, in case we get more friends joining us soon."

Stef nodded slowly, "That's actually a good idea."

"What about you?" Charlotte asked the catkin. "Are you on team hike-for-wine? Or will you stay here with Stella?"

They swished their tail from side to side once as they thought it over, before making their decision. "I'd better stay here. My little star can get carried away with her projects sometimes, so it's best that I stick around and keep an eye on her. To make sure she takes breaks and doesn't overdo it."

That made me blush, but I certainly wasn't going to complain. Then before I could respond though our wildcat friend chimed in.

"I'll go with you tomorrow Charlotte," Theo offered. "I've never been outside the canyon and forest before, I'm curious to see what the human lands are like."

Our various plans for the next day remained the topic of conversation through the rest of dinner. Charlotte and Flora briefly discussed whether or not it'd be worth taking their bikes to the winery, but they quickly decided against it. Partially because the bikes would be more of a hindrance until they got clear of the woods and canyon area, but mostly because Theo and Silvia would be travelling on foot regardless.

We also talked a little about what sort of changes I'd be making to our subterranean home, like where I could add another bedroom or two and what other improvements could be made. Despite my confidence I didn't want to make any guarantees, but by the time we were all finished eating I had more than enough ideas and suggestions to work with in the morning.

We all pitched in and helped with the dishes, then spent another hour or so just relaxing around the fire pit. The six of us talked a bit more, we got to know Silvia a little better and hopefully helped her to feel more relaxed and comfortable with the rest of us. Then once our fire finally burned itself out we all headed inside to get some sleep.

After all the excitement everyone had a mercifully quiet night, then we were all up at dawn the next morning. And when we woke, we found another small surprise waiting for us. Although to be fair it was the sort of thing Stef and Theo and I were almost used to by that point.

When Silvia woke she discovered a gift basket waiting for her next to the sofa where she'd slept. It had been delivered silently overnight while everyone was asleep, which was admittedly more than a little bit creepy. On the other hand the contents were very welcome.

The basket contained a bunch of new clothes that fit the ponygirl perfectly, along with a new magic-powered phone. And there was more food too, but that was for everyone rather than just Silvia.

"So how do I turn this on?" the ponygirl asked as she examined her new phone. "And is there any way to transfer everything out of my old phone? Or do I have get out of the no-tech area first, so I can access the old one's data?"

Stef and Charlotte took the newly-arrived food into the kitchen then got started on breakfast, and Theo went with them to provide the fire magic for cooking. Meanwhile Flora and I stayed with our new friend, and explained how the magic-powered phones worked.

That didn't take long, then I wrapped up the short lecture saying, "Unfortunately it means you won't be able to activate your phone until your magic kicks in."

"Which I'm sure is going to happen some time soon," Flora added. "And by soon I mean some time today."

I nodded in agreement, while Silvia just looked somewhere between happy, excited, and maybe a little apprehensive.

Breakfast was ready soon enough, and all six of us sat down together for a hearty meal of bacon, french toast, and syrup, with plenty of juice and coffee on the side. And unsurprisingly, the topic of conversation during the meal was mostly regarding all our plans for the day.

"I figure the winery's about four kilometers away," the little mink girl stated, after munching on a forkful of french toast. "And most of that will be rough terrain through the forest, although looking at our map it seems like we can take advantage of a path then a road, at least for the last two kilometers."

She paused for a sip of juice then continued, "So maybe allow for ninety minutes to two hours of travel time each way? Plus however long it takes to fill our packs once we're there. So odds are we should be back here by mid-day. Early afternoon at the latest."

"Sounds good to me," Flora nodded. "Maybe we should keep our eyes open for anything else of interest too?"

Stef asked, "Like what?"

The deer girl shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just saying, if we're out scavenging then let's not turn our noses up at something just because it isn't wine."

"The three of us can only carry so much," Charlotte pouted. "I don't want to have to pass on a few bottles of wine because we filled our packs up with other stuff."

She glanced at our wildcat friend and added, "Sorry Theo, I know you're coming too but I figured you wouldn't be doing any heavy lifting."

"I won't," he agreed. "I'll be scouting around though, looking out for humans or other trouble. And if I come across anything that seems important or interesting I'll make sure to point it out."

Eventually everyone had enough to eat, then we all chipped in and helped with the clean-up and the dishes. Then Charlotte Flora and Silvia all grabbed some empty backpacks, before preparing to set out.

Stef reminded them to top up their water bottles and canteens first. Then they cautioned our friends, "All four of you stay safe, ok? Especially if there's soldiers lurking around. Don't get into a fight over a few bottles of wine."

"Don't worry," Theo assured my enbyfriend. "I'll protect them."

I pointed out, "The humans shouldn't be able to hurt any of you regardless, but like Stef said it's best to play it safe. Good luck, and maybe don't do too much sampling of the merchandise until you get back here?"

I was smiling when I mentioned that last part, and it was mostly directed at Charlotte.

Sure enough the mink girl blushed as she protested, "I wasn't going to! Not that much, anyways. I mean, we'll want to be sure it hasn't gone bad or anything, before we lug it all the way back here."

Flora rolled her eyes and smirked, "I'll keep an eye on my girlfriend. You and Stef stay safe too. Try not to work too hard."

"I won't," I promised.

Stef added, "I'll make sure of that."

Finally the four of them set off to the south-east, while my enbyfriend and I waved as we watched them go. It only took a minute or so before they'd disappeared into the trees, and another five or ten minutes after that I couldn't hear them anymore either.

"So," I smiled and my tails started swishing back and forth as I turned to look at my gorgeous catkin enbyfriend. "We've got the place to ourselves for the next four or five hours. What do you want to do first?"

Their tail stood up straight behind them as they grinned, "I can think of a few things, my little star."

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