After Eve had disappeared from sight completely, I made my way across the threshold and admired my handy work.
As I crossed into the pocket dimension the I appeared in the earthen basement of the single lodging that existed, it seemed like a good Idea at the time to simply make the walls out of compressed earth, but despite the fact it held that cosy, rustic feeling I was aiming for, it occurred to me I would have to line it at some point anyway.
After a quick sigh, I manipulated the space to line the earth with stacked stones up to my waist and then with wooden panelling up to the ceiling I then fitted the ceiling with two candle chandeliers that would never burn out and covered the wooden logs they hung from in a heatproof material for safety.
When I was satisfied, I went upstairs and emerged in the larder space of the ground floor of the log cabin, stopping there only to create a few shelves for the walls and some baskets and crates.
From there I stepped into the kitchen space that whilst still built into the log cabin aesthetic was actually modern, fitted with kitchen appliances that I had cherry-picked from the thousand lifetimes I had experienced, all powered by electricity that I siphoned off from Eve and stored in a massive battery complete with solar panels on the roof.
I didn't need to do much in either the kitchen or the dining space, so I quickly found myself in the lounge. There I lined the roman concrete fireplace with an inner layer of heatproof material and a layer of a special alloy that is gradually strengthened by exposure to heat, then added a carbon filter to the top of the chimney stack.
For furniture, I basically just copied the same as our home to give it that familiar feeling, then decided to leave the bedrooms for later and went outside to call Astrael and Quatal back for dinner.
"How is the training going?" I asked as Astrael bowed to me.
"She is quick to learn, but clumsy. her balance gets worse the quicker she tries to move and she has a habit of dropping out of flight when she gets distracted. I adore your child though, she truly is a worthy heir."
"Glad to hear it, I'm sure Auntie Astra can smooth off the edges before long... I have to insist though, you're family now, you need to stop kneeling and bowing. Relax, be yourself and enjoy life, maybe shrink down to a normal mortal's size so you can interact easier. Of course that's your choice, but if your always looking down on the mortal's it will be hard to see them as equals."
"Sage advice Adam." With that simple statement she began to pulse briefly, as the outline of her vacuous appearance rippled and contracted, then fell in on itself gradually.
Whilst this was happening Quatal finally returned, changing back and landing on me in a rather exhausted condition, apparently uninterested in what was happening with her aunt until she directly asked at the end of the process and actually looked.
"Wow, Auntie Astra will be way easier to cuddle like that." She declared before jumping from me to her to test that theory. I made a gesture to signal Astra to follow, leasing the way to the new gate.
"Incredible, your taste hasn't changed a bit." Astra muttered as she glanced around as though she was calculating ways to use the space in her own ways.
"I'll give you the ability to manipulate certain areas decor, and the space outside in case you want to make a sparring circle. The girls will be able to redesign their rooms and knock down the wall to make it a twin room if they want to share. Eve will have full control naturally and everyone else given access just their rooms and kitchen supplies in case they need a pan that doesn't exist." Astrael simply chuckled as we stepped through the gate.
Finding myself face to face with the demon engineer who had apparently started work on the teleportation circle. "Sir!" He yelped out of surprise of my sudden appearance, then completely breaking down at the sight of Astrael.
"Oh, this is my daughter, Quatal. the deva's name is Astrael, they spend most their time in the pocket dimension at the moment, so if you need any help then just go through and call for Astrael, she shouldn't have any problems.
"D-d-d-deva! Please don't hurt me, I'm a good demon I swear."
"Kriel! We broke the engineer!" I shouted up the stairs, hoping another demon might help.
"Kriel and the others aren't back yet! Just give him some of Kriel's liquor!" Eve shouted in response, it wasn't a bad idea, so I conjured some and it settled him down. Not a real shocker since it was a special demon drink laced with a slight bewitchment to inspire courage before battle.
When he was back on his feet, I gestured for the other two to head up ahead of me and had a brief chat with the demon about the circles and the process. It was painfully inefficient, but I would have to accept that. One thing I never improve in a life is the population's ability to teleport. A principle that was solidified after a world used enhanced teleportation for war and the death toll hit millions in hours.
I was going to make receiver-less teleportation possible for me, Eve and anyone who wants to accompany us, but that was as far as I could go.
I then told him how Astrael was Quatal's nanny and he shouldn't worry, then invited him to join us for dinner. It was amusing watching him start to fidget and look at her as the potion wore off, but when the others arrived home Kriel's presence comforted him as expected.
Everyone liked the smaller form of Astrael and I could tell it made her happy to be so quickly accepted and when everyone went home we showed Astrael and Quatal to some rooms in the main house.
"I would recommend Quatal sleep in the pocket dimension in beast form, it will help with the malting, which is going much smoother now."
"Maybe we should go over there for now, so we can camp out with her." Eve suggested, holding onto her daughter like she hadn't seen her enough.
"Her strength control is still poor. If you did, she might accidentally hurt you while asleep." Astra explained carefully, making it clear that it was more of a certainty than a possibility, which after feeling her "hug" in snake form I completely understood.
"Astrael's right, if she gets itchy she will writhe around. so why don't we go over and see her asleep before coming back." I said as I petted the child's silky hair.
Eve reluctantly conceded to our logic and we went over to see her to bed before returning. Eve then told me I had to tuck her in for the night before returning to my room and so that's what I did.
The moment I was alone in my room, I continued meditating and expelling my energy. The more I tried though, the more I felt like I was emptying an ocean with a pipette and after six hours I was soaked in sweat from head to toe, but my power didn't feel any less which left me completely baffled.
I decided that the best person to ask would be Astrael, but as eager as I was, visiting the nanny in the middle of the night seemed like a terrible idea by even my intrinsically dense ability to comprehend "normal" behaviour, so I was forced to wait until a more suitable chance presented itself.
A short while later though there was a knock at my door, and with the temporary disablement of the soundproofing chem I could here Eve laughing.
"Come in?" I called, more as a question as to why she was awake and why she seemed to be in hysterics.
The door gently opened and Eve walked in, hunched over and holding her stomach with tears of laughter pooling in her glassy eyes.
"Adam, You're ridiculous. Hahaha.... You don't need to worry about visiting Astrael if you need help with whatever you're trying. Hahaha... I could feel you feeling exasperated, then concerned, then unfaithful and then just annoyed with yourself."
As happy as I was she was in good spirits and free to get answers, I was not overly thrilled about her reading my emotions through the walls so I decided to get a bit cheeky revenge.
Lifting her head by the chin as I kissed her a few times then heading of to the pocket dimension when she tried for more.
Making my way through the house as she made some frustrated buffs and headed back to her room.
As I reached the cellar I caught Kriel snacking and we stared at eachother in the way men do to silently confirm that when we parted we hadn't seen one another, then as I was about to cross dimensions I hear him muttering.
"I don't know what you did, but you know you're dead right?" I looked back and smiled at his words.
"Yep, but that's tomorrow Adam's problem."