“About what -” Dyllan paused and took a few steps away from the edge of the floating island. Cedric’s sudden appearance had nearly made him lose his footing, and he wasn’t eager to fall off if he got surprised again. “About what happened inside your Nightmare. I wanted to ask about what happened inside your Nightmare. I get the feeling I either forgot or missed something important. Last thing I remember was your ego confronting your shadow about being scared, and your shadow getting pissed off about it… then, boom! I’m not in your Nightmare anymore.”
“Hm. Well, it’s hard to say for sure, but that’s probably the last thing you remember because that was the last thing that happened.” Cedric paused briefly to decide whether Dyllan’s expression was more bewildered or flabbergasted. Flabbergasted, probably. “What? I got new information, reevaluated the situation, and drew a new conclusion.”
“But your ego and shadow -”
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“It wasn’t my ego that needed to accept my shadow, or my shadow that needed to accept my ego.” Cedric folded his arms. “It was me that needed to accept myself.”
“That… I…” Dyllan heaved a sigh and halfheartedly tried to hold back a smile and a laugh. “I really know how to pick ‘em, huh? Two best friends: one says completely reasonable things that sound patently insane, the other says patently insane things that sound completely reasonable. Worst of all…” He threw up his hands with a feigned sense of defeat. “Both of them are usually right!”
“Well.” Andie grinned. “You know what they say about birds of a feather.”
“You trying to imply something?”
“I‘m not implying anything. I’m outright saying it!” Andie dodged a playful shoulder punch from Dyllan. “What? You’re a weirdo same as us, and you know it.”
“She has a point.” Cedric started to crack a smile himself. He was still a little nervous, but maybe opening up like this wasn’t so bad after all. “I mean, ‘hippie military brat’ isn’t exactly an archetypal personality. Certainly not on my bingo card.”