Falling, a familiar sensation somehow. Right, leapt off the cliff to save her one time, then slide off of an avalanche another time. This really is some sort of black dragon with leathery, stitched skin though isn’t it? It’s so odd, and he seems so weak after the werewolf tore into him. His wings were in tatters before the werewolf, but now almost nothing remains of them. I really hope my partner survived those blasts. I wish I were with her in the end, but this strange technicolor tunnel appears as if it’s separating my mind from my body, sending me to another universe, the afterlife, with the dragon. Only the dragon, since my partner is nowhere in sight. Somehow I know that at the end of these rotating squares of light is a drop. I think maybe I can see it.

Despite not knowing this dragon at all, he did try to save me from the werewolf. I mean, there wasn’t anywhere for me to escape to while climbing the mountain, but he at least tried to tell me to flee. If we’re about to die, then maybe I can at least comfort him and show him some gratitude. I swim through the non-air of our seventies sci-fi teleportation tunnel, barely reaching the dragon in time. I clasp him in a hug as he seems to be shrinking in his death throes. Actually, not just shrinking, changing shape. I hope it’s not painful, but if it is, don’t worry pal we don’t have too long to live to endure it. Thanks for trying to save a stranger.

I awaken to Teuila grilling something over a fire. For some reason, there’s an enormous round-shield on the ground on the other side of what appears to be a camp in The Gap. I glance around, surprised to find myself not in a tunnel complex. I rattle my skull as I try to parse what’s going on. I can’t possibly have sleepwalked out. My limbs wouldn’t feel as healed as they do if I did.

Teuila grins when she realizes I’m awake, as she shouts, “Dink!” She leaps towards me, and I can tell I’ve been asleep long enough that my telekinesis has worn off. I’m unable to stop her in time, as I grimace, prepared to feel the pain.

No pain arrives as she slows her float and lands gently, weightless upon me. Teuila plants a smooch upon my cheek and sifts my hair playfully as we stare at each other. Have I died? Is this heaven? Get it together Reggie, you’re in The Gap on Rayileklia. Te probably dragged your arse out of the tunnel complex by sprinting for a few hours. Oh, right, that makes more sense. Thanks me. No problem me. Holy hell my brain is just, yeah. No more solo adventures. I-know-right!? Haha, we’re cracking up. Yup. We should maybe try to be in the present and focus on Te, get up to speed. Yeah, I agree.

I glance around and am unable to find Dippy. Worried, I’m about to ask Teuila as she answers my unspoken question, “So the kobolds are doing a thing, and it’s kind of a big private ceremony and stuff, or something, plus some other stuff. That shield is Dippy’s, or something. He’ll be back with us like, maybe tomorrow ish or something. Sorry, I’m not making fun of them, but sometimes they’re kind of hard to understand. Y’know? They’re all real sweet and all, but, between their anxiety-stutters, and their native tongue being an alien brain-melting hiss, there’s a bit of a communication barrier, just a bit.”

I raise an eyebrow at that part about their language Teuila nods as she continues, “Yeah, they speak Draconic, but like, Elder didn’t get to learn as well as the rest, because of what happened when he was young, so everyone speaks the common language in like, deference to him or something. Like I said, they’re all real sweeties. ‘Sept Tim, dickhead. I heard he attacked you. I wanted to cave his head in when I heard that, but Miza just used up a whole day worth of mana helping you heal faster, again. Couldn’t really kill her mate, you know?”

I chuckle softly as I nod. I ask, “What about you though Te? I love you. I want to know about you. How are you doing? Don’t just say okay. I know it’s harder without our mindscape, but I’m here for you. We’ve been through some crap recently.”

Teuila frowns, sniffles, punches me in the shoulder and looks away. She quietly admits, “I, I was scared, Dink. Not like for me. I was scared I was going to let them past. It was like home all over again. I, I just couldn’t stop fighting. I couldn’t risk them getting to you, to Dippy and Zippy and Elder and Miza and Scrap. Then Dippy showed up, and I mean, talk about a brave little dude. Sometimes he seemed like he was like weeping in fear and still fighting alongside me.”

Teuila sees my disapproving face as she veers from the topic of herself. She blushes and glances away for a moment, nervously chuckling before continuing, “Okay, so, so yeah. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t like, transform, and, and that weird tug kept pulling me. Something was calling me down, but I couldn’t get to it. It’s like something is there, waiting for me. Something I’m supposed to have. But yeah, so, I couldn’t take a break to do any Can’Z’aas magic, transform, nothing, so I was fighting like this the entire time. I hate to admit it, but I’m kinda squishier as Otter-Te compared to Valkyrie. And, maybe I tire a bit easier than her too, and, and other stuff. It was tough. Dink it was so hard.”

Teuila begins openly weeping and sobbing, “I, I don’t know how you did it, I’m so sorry you had to do it so many times. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, so many times. I’m so sorry. It hurt so much, to be alone, worried that I’d fail, the entire time. Even with Dippy there. He wasn’t, isn’t you. I still had to worry about you and Dawnie and Miza and Scrap and Elder and the hatchlings and, ugh.”

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Teuila sucks back tears and snot before aiming away and firing snot rockets into the dusty canyon walls. She furiously rubs her face on her forearm, despite the ever-present acidic drizzle of Rayileklia. She clucks her tongue in mild pain or irritation at the stinging sensation, and laughs momentarily.

I nod as I grasp Teuila’s hands. I stare lovingly up at her. I know that exact feeling. Both because I’ve experienced it, and because I’ve been deep into her ocean of emotions. I’d seen this one before, unspoken. We’d never addressed it. Not this particular level of this kind of fear. I had to do this for Teuila, right now, to face it with her. There wouldn’t be another chance to be there for her through this emotion. Well, hopefully. I don’t want this to ever happen again, and I want the wound to heal.

I gulp and I realize I’ve been nodding my head, still. I respond, “I love you Teuila Shellcracker. You’re amazing in any universe. It’s tough, but you came through. So did I. We’ve done it. There may be more times, but we can hope to avoid them being a necessity. As long as I’m alive though, I’ll always be there for you to help you through this hurt. It sucks, and even though it’s over, it eats at you for a while. But we’re here now, we’re okay.”

Teuila shakes her head as she begins to sob and weep further, “But we’re not. They aren’t finished off, we only closed off one hive. Dippy and I struggled to close off like three others, and they can dig. Even if you killed a bunch during that rockslide, they’ll just dig from the other side eventually.”

Huh. Well crap. Stroking my chin and Teuila’s hands, I frantically search for a solution inside my own dilapidated mindscape. Some fireballs can explode some tunnel walls, doing more collapsing. Lots of the spells in the staff can do some more collapsing. What would really come in handy is a fire-breathing or acid-breathing dragon to send a lava flow or acid flow so torrential down into their, wait. Huff. Dangit. I can be a fire-breathing or acid-breathing dragon. I was in Kozzurth’s throat, she had an organ that seemed to rotate between elements, my danger wraps got a ton of information about dragon anatomy from her. Oh hell. Gorramit Reggie Shellcracker, guess what you have to do? Awe man.

I’m going to bleed so much, and be in so much pain. I sniffle, and though Teuila doesn’t know what my plan is, she can sense my series of emotions. She knows I intend to do something stupid, alone, again, after just having gone through all that, and saying I never wanted to do it again. She slaps me, for real. I’m stunned as I blink forcefully while staring at her.

She growls, “Don’t, you, dare.”

I shrug helplessly and my palms waver, rotating partially to face upwards as I try to explain, “Te, I’m sorry. It’s not like I want to, but, we both feel responsible for them. I can become a dragon subtype. You know it, you’ve seen it. I now know a lot more about dragon physiology thanks to being inside Kozzurth for -“ Teuila bursts into laughter and grabs her belly, “Okay it wasn’t that funny, give me a break. You know what I meant, heh. Anyway, remember how my version of breath stuff on Can’Z’aas was sort of weak and feeble when I was doing the mana-free version? And I could only do it like four to eight times over the course of a given day?”

Teuila raises an eyebrow at me suspiciously, clueing me in to go on, so I continue, “Well, with Kozzurth’s organ, oh come on that one wasn’t even funny. Heh, jeeze. Anyway! With what I’ve learned about Dragons recently, between contact with kobolds, and dead dragons, I’m pretty certain I can get my breath weapon to be utterly massive, without reaching back to Can’Z’aas for the power. It’ll just leave me at least as exposed as it left Kozzurth, I’ll need a very long prep time, much longer than she did, and a hell of a lot of calories and minerals.”

Teuila returns to growling, “So why did it look like you thought you had to go off on your own again?”

I frown, hating that I have to tell her the truth, “Teuila, you’re not immune to acid or lava. Neither am I, not completely, but my draconic form? It can be almost impervious to acid, quite possibly totally impervious if I incorporate Mite-Hulk-King carapace-biology instead of the usual scales. Hell, thinking on it, I can probably make my Draconic form completely immune to heat between my own fire resistance, and trying to emulate Lil’s scales. I’m not sure what kind of scales I first developed. I guess, somehow, subconsciously, I made ones that could help me do that active camouflage skill. The weird translucent green gemlike scales.”

She prods, angrily, “That still doesn’t explain why you might need to be alone, jerk.”

I pout as I frown, I hate feeling like I’m talking down to her, “Because I’m going to try to flood an entire tunnel system with acid, then immediately follow that up with lava by superheating the weakened rock. Do you get how dangerous that’s going to be?”

Teuila commands, demands, orders, “I’m. Coming. With.”

Gorramit I love this woman so much. I slump, defeated. I beg, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry Te. Please, please though, please just promise me, that you’ll find some sort of escape route, you’ll be in Valkyrie or something, prepped to get the hell out of the tunnel complex if it starts collapsing on me, on us?”

She flicks my nose as she leans in to kiss me, not answering my plea. I try not to sigh into her face as we kiss. She’s. Huff. She’s right to be this stubborn. But I’m right in that she might die, be taken from me in an instant if there’s a backdraft, or backsplash, or collapse, or, or just anything. I’d probably survive any of those. I might not survive long enough to dig myself out of cooled lava, or a cave-in, but, I’d at least survive the instant. I could probably engage my time skill before I died of suffocation, since our otter-based lung capacity is ridiculous compared to like a human or something.

I can almost picture myself now, coming back to warn myself not to do it. Actually. What the everliving hell is that?