Work Text:
"Zenith's rescue difficult. Send help -Geese"
Rudy took a deep breath, flipped the letter over, and started to make notes. There's little to no chance he could go, he had to take care of Sylphy, the baby, and his little sisters. Who could he send? Elinalise, of course. Cliff lacked experience, but could he toughen up in a year? Rudy put him in the Maybe column. Badigadi owed him one. Zanoba was deep into his puppet research, and also had to take care of Julie, so he was out. Ginger wasn't his to command. Linia and Pursena were out, but maybe some of their tribe would go? They did owe him. Stepped Leader? Thunder Bolt? Rudy put them into the Maybe column, as well as Ruijerd, Ghislaine, and Eris, as he didn't know where they were. Princess Ariel was out, as was Luke. Roxy was already there, of course. Nanahoshi would say no, obviously.
Rudy paused his pen over Nanahoshi. Didn't she say that she traveled the world with Orsted via Teleportation Circles? Wasn't she going to see her Teleportation expert anyways? Anything shaved off the year (TWO years, round trip) of travel time was worth asking about, at least. Oh yeah, and she couldn't do her experiments while he was gone. He was pretty sure she'd tie him up and break his legs if he tried to go, now that she was making real progress with her experiments. If it DIDN'T take an entire year to get to Begaritt, that opened up a lot of options. Heck, he could even go himself, and come back in time for the birth!
Rudy stuffed the letter/notes into his pocket and hurried to Nanahoshi's tower. Hopefully she hadn't left yet!
Nanahoshi made all of them swear Oaths of Secrecy in order to use Orsted's Teleportation Circles. A lot of planning, negotiating, and preparation later...
The Teleportation Labyrinth near Rapan was conquered! Roxy and Zenith were rescued! Paul thanked Badigadi for tanking the hit that would have cut him in half, as well as saving Rudy's hand. Nanahoshi's friend had invaluable notes and advice on how to spot and disarm Teleportation Magic, especially when it came to freeing Roxy from said Trap. Same thing for the Dimensional Trap. Rudy wasn't sure WHAT they would've done with an alternate Zenith that had never married Paul and became a Miko instead.
Zenith fussed over Paul, and Elinalise joined in on scolding him for letting his health and hygiene slip, but the man looked so relieved and happy that a lot of the scolding just didn't land. After a huge celebration feast, paid for by the Dungeon's loot, everyone went back home. Sylphy was definitely showing now, but between Elinalise, Zenith, and Lilia, she couldn't be in better hands. Nanahoshi worked him to the bone, making up for lost time.
And everyone lived happily ever after. Well, except for the Man-God, but honestly, fuck that guy.