The ship landed on Xentron. Cembra and Evergreen left to get back to their alchemy shop. Cooper, Moon, and Rasha went with them. They might not have, not right away, but Wren had asked them to. She needed a moment to talk to Udo. She genuinely would've done it sooner, but there wasn't enough privacy on the ship for her to be comfortable. Now it was just her, Udo, Aqua, and Fleck. The adults let them follow them back to the spa in silence.

They went in. The lights were off, no one was inside. It was, in fairness, night time. The spa would be closed either way.

As soon as the door was closed, Wren bowed her head and held out the Link to Udo, who just looked at it mild confusion.

Wren. . .had a headache. But she tried to ignore it. That was probably just what happened when you were stressed out of your mind for days at a time.

"This was always yours," Wren explained. "I'm sorry for taking it with me. And I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. I know you went out of your way to help sometimes, and I caused you to fight with Ferren, and I didn't want any of that." She lifted her head. "But, if you'll take me back, I would like that. I know the job and would work harder than before. And I've learned a bit about handling my problems this past month." Well, more like two months now. "I would be able to handle anything that comes up without dragging you in. If you'll have me."

Wren didn't know how much Udo knew about her past. Depending on how much, it was a little audacious to ask. But he hadn't said anything about it yet, and she had to try something.

Udo sighed. "You know, I'm not oblivious. I have a dragon. We were well aware of your. . .abnormal presence from the start. And I could guess there was more going on in your life than you were telling me about. Given your skittish and jumpy nature, I thought I should keep a more hands off approach. Let you come to me. And, I suppose I'm inclined to take that strategy anyway. I'm no one's parent after all." He shrugged.

'Better than my actual dad,' Wren thought.

Udo looked back at her. "I'm thinking, now, that I might have taken the wrong approach. But you might've as well. I did want to help, after all."

Wren fidgeted, and tried not to look at her shoes.

Udo sighed again. "I was worried about you. You just vanished. Would you not have been worried if I just disappeared one day?"

Wren bit her lip. For all that they might not be super close, yes, she would've worried.

"I cared, and I'm not sure you realized that," Udo said. "I'm not sure you realized a few things. I fired Ferren, and it was just Aqua and I until we found a new apprentice, for example."

He'd found someone else?

Udo must've seen the panic on her face, because he held up a hand. "I assure you, I could still use more help here if you want to. My question is if you actually want to work here, or if it's just the first thing you came across?"

"I-if it's the first thing I came across, than I don't know if there's something else I want. Well, I tried magic, but my emotion magic's not really good for a job."

She wasn't a healer like Rasha. She didn't make light, or make plants grow. She controlled emotions. Useful if you were fighting a tower full of evil cultists. Not so helpful for a career, or day to day life.

And she was certainly not addressing the explosions.

"Hmm," Udo replied. "There's also, the issue of you being in a murderous cult. Based on your presence, I'm going to assume you did some of the murdering?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

This was the part of the conversation Wren had been expecting, and dreading, far more than what Udo started with.

Wren shifted her weight. She could lie, but as Udo said, it was unlikely she could give off dark magic and be innocent. Obviously lying would make her look even worse.

She gave a minute nod. "Are you going to turn me in?" she asked. She'd wanted to keep her voice even, but it was quiet, and squeaked at one point.

"To who?" Udo asked. It was the snarkiest he'd ever sounded. Aqua literally nudged him, and he was back to normal when he continued. "No. I need to think this over more. This is serious. I don't think you should just. . .go back to what you were doing, knowing what we know now. But I don't think just announcing it to everyone on the street would help. As for Desert Crest, I still need to think, but I'm not sure anything they could do about it would be helpful either."

It was silent again, the humans dominating this conversation. Aqua was probably helping Udo along, with the way he was speaking, and the literal nudge she'd given him. Fleck was ready to help too, but Wren hadn't asked for it, and for once, he was ready to hang back.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Udo asked.

Well he'd carried most of the conversation. Wren nodded.

"I suggest two weeks, where you do not work for me. And I want you to actually go out and experience things during those two weeks. I won't spy on you, but there are ways I could find out if you're doing that. Meanwhile, I will consider what I should do with the information about your past, if anything. If two weeks pass, and you still want to rejoin me, you can. But. I feel you can find something more suited to you in that time."

Wren stared. She was aware she was giving her intense, scary face stare, and tried to dial it back. (Especially now that her eyes were permanently red.) "I still don't have money for those two weeks."

Anvon had had money, but if she could access it at all, everyone would know where she was, rather defeating the point of leaving Morivon and not getting arrested.

"I have no intention of letting you die during those two weeks," Udo assured her. "You can still have meals from me. Your old room is taken, but we can work something else out. You could sleep in the living room." Udo smiled then, but there was no happiness in it. "Or, no one's staying in Rial's home anymore."

~~~

Wren and Rasha did actually go to Rial's shop the next day.

Glow didn't come with them. Partly because other dragons were worried about her going on a rampage again, partly because she was dedicated to watching over Rial's body, standing over it nearly all hours of the day.

She had been worried about the home and shop though. It seemed despite the cold shoulder she'd been giving anyone, she trusted Fleck to make sure no harm came to Rial's home.

The shop was dark. The lights were off, and the blinds were closed. Everything was where it should be. Clean. Organized. More so than upstairs ever was. Like Rial had closed up for the night, and was ready to reopen this very morning. Like he was going to come down the stairs and do that now.

Rasha had offered to help with funeral arrangements, as a member of the same species.

"The ground is so cold on Morgoue, burying people isn't really a thing," Rasha rambled as they entered the store. "Well, unless you want a body perfectly preserved in the ice, which in fairness some people do. But cremation is more common. So's willingly feeding it to li'estock, or using chemicals to artificially break it down and feed the plants. It's something of an honor to be able to foster new life with death. But I know that doesn't always translate to other cultures. Yeah. Cremation is much better." Rasha nodded along to herself.

Wren walked down the shelves. She stopped at the one with the magical necklaces. She'd gotten her own necklace from this shelf. It was still around her neck now, weighing cold and heavy against her chest. She was back on Xentron, in his shop, but she wouldn't be able to pay Rial back.

"There's uh, there's a lot of information on magic in here," Rasha continued. "Maybe we can learn more of it."

Fleck could see Rasha nervously rubbing the base of her horn again. Wren was staring at the empty cash register, and probably wouldn't notice.

"I mean, we both know some silent magic. Only way to get better at that is practice. But there's some verbal spells or potions we could learn here. And I didn't really want to stop. . ."

"Rasha, how about you just say what you mean?" Wren finally asked, turning to her.

Rasha looked a bit taken aback, mouth making an "oh" shape and taking a half step back. But she recovered, leaning forward and clenching her fists. "Wren are we still friends?!" She blurted out. "Or rather, can we be friends again? Real friends? I liked being friends during that week we actually got along. I'd like to get to know you for real. And look!" She smiled, even if it was clearly forced. She pointed between her own red eyes and Wren's face. "Eye buddies."

. . .Wren's vision got a bit blurry.

"Are you crying?"

Wren wiped at her face with her sleeve. It only debately helped. Her sleeve had collected a bit of sand.

"I'd like that Rasha."