Both girls turned to look at me. Vespera slid to my side and put her magisteel-taloned hand on my shoulder, looking at my eyes.

"If I don't secure your trust I'll be perma-dead in a week," I said.

"What?" Cinder blinked.

"The Frontenachii Scrutimancers are on my trail," I confessed. "Yulia's been tracking their movements south. They will come to Skyfall to bag me. If I don't secure your trust, less than a week from now will be the last time you and I see each other because then I'll be staying here, on Arx on a permanent basis. All of my life is already in that bag."

I pointed at Lance's backpack. "So. If you don't trust me, then it's goodbye Skyfall high!"

"Stay... here?" Cinder repeated, eyes growing wide. "What?!"

"Yes," I said. "Stay here! Fortify the hell out of this place with the cash from selling more Genesis fluid. Then... destroy the Arx gate from both ends, which would hopefully give me decades or more to get stronger, become a proper Archmage. Unlike you, I've been asking around, paying attention! There are humans living on Arx! From what Shash told me, all of the Shandrian High Lords are human. In fact, a human lordling David-something just procured a lighthouse smithy with a dragon slave and turned it into a cafe right above us!" I pointed my index finger at the ceiling. "People can level up in Shandria, grow crystalline heart cores slowly over time!"

"But... your life..." Cinder stammered out, derailed by my revelations.

"What life?" I asked sharply. "My mom's dead. My uncle's on his last leg, maybe has a few years left. The Frontenachii Scruts will find me and take Yulia away from me, cut me up into a flesh-cube and put me into a suitcase. You read the binder I gave you, did you not? You know what they do to humans. The catch is that I need both of you to trust me wholeheartedly and watch my back in Skyfall as my partners while I do everything in my power to help you... Or you reject me and then we part ways forever in a week, which would make me quite sad 'cus I do like you both!"

"But..." Cinder's wings drooped. "That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair," I shrugged. "But at least I'm being honest about my situation. I need both of you. Your absolute trust. Your friendship. Your protection. In return, I'll do everything in my power to help you. That's the deal. Simple as."

"And if we refuse?" Vespera asked, talons sparkling all over my shoulder.

"Then I stay here," I said simply. "Build my human colony. Maybe hang out with Lord David, visit his lighthouse cafe for breakfast. Maybe die from an arrow to the face exploring my dungeon. Who knows? But at least I'll die free, on my own terms. The Wendigos don't let their test subjects die!"

Cinder lowered her eyes.

"What?" I asked. "Welcome to my world, Ci. A world where I have to constantly think three steps ahead of everyone just to survive. Where I have to manipulate and scheme and plan because if I don't, I end up in a Wendigo compound. Do you want to see Yulia's video of the rows and rows of cages filled with sliced up, splayed humans? Humans put into suitcases? Humans cut in half and still kept alive with vile preservation magic for centuries?"

The Quetzi swallowed.

"You wanted honesty? Here it is. Raw and ugly. I'm not playing games. I'm fighting for survival. Every move I make, every person I befriend, every plan I set in motion - it's all part of staying alive and free. And maybe, just maybe, making things better for others along the way."

"That answers that," Vespera said. "You pass."

"Pass what?" Cinder demanded.

"Everything," the Thunderbird clicked, letting go of me. "I must admit, I did have some minor reservations but they're now answered."

"You were testing him?" Cinder demanded.

"Of course," Vespera shrugged. "I am always testing him. I can read thoughts with electrical impulses. Duh. The answer he provided is acceptable. As the firstborn Princess of the House of Simmi I henceforth claim this human as my property. If anyone has objections, voice them now."

"WHAT?!" Cinder's feathers exploded with furious reds and violent blacks. "You can't just... CLAIM him!"

"I just did," Vespera clicked her beak smugly. "By the ancient laws of Thunderland, it is thus. Any challenges must be issued formally through..."

"Challenge issued!" Cinder snarled, her wings flaring wide. "You sparkly harpy! You..."

"Challenge accepted," Vespera clicked "Terms?"

"Terms?!" Cinder sputtered.

"Yes, terms," Vespera said patiently. "How shall we settle this dispute over property ownership, Miss Nova? A duel to the death? A formal agreement between two most noble houses? Or perhaps... something more interesting?"

"You can't just claim people out of the blue!"

"Au contraire mon ami, I can indeed claim humans," Vespera clicked. "The ancient clan laws are quite clear on the matter. As the Princess of Thunder, I have the right to claim any free range human that catches my interest. Unless..." She paused dramatically. "Someone else has a prior claim, perchance?"

Cinder's feathers shifted through a kaleidoscope of colors - angry reds, possessive greens, embarrassed pinks.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I... I..." she stammered.

"Yeeeees?" Vespera pressed, gray eyes gleaming. "Do you have a prior claim, Miss Nova? Perhaps something you'd like to share with the class?"

"I... he's... URGHHHH!" Cinder threw up her wings in frustration, sending water splashing everywhere. "Fine! Yes! I claimed him! Are you happy now?! I like this stupid, reckless, impossible human who keeps turning my life upside down!"

"So you claimed him... when?" Vespera tilted her beak.

"T-two days ago," Cinder confessed with a slight stammer. "I put a magical marker in his head, marking him as my property. It sorta broke him for a bit. Happy?"

I squinted at Cinder.

"You did what to my head?" I asked. "When was this?"

"When you wouldn't tell me shit and I snuck into your room at my house," Cinder muttered. "I... may have... put a tiny bit of my soul in you. Just a small mark! To keep track of you! To see if you were being honest! Because you keep doing insanely stupid things and lying and getting into trouble!"

"Ah," I said. "The Meta-narrator moment when your dad locked down the ward and I lost distinction between thought and conversation. That made me feel pretty messed up. Thanks."

"That explains what I thought I felt in the current," Vespera clicked. "Thank you. I was wondering who's soul bit it was."

"Just a tiny tracking mark!" Cinder protested, wings flaring. "A completely normal, totally reasonable precaution! You know how he is, damn it!!!"

"Mm-hmmm," Vespera tapped her beak with a steel-clad talon. "I know how he is. Welp, I'm not gonna concede."

She suddenly dropped into the water on her knees and wrapped her hands around Cinder's legs.

"What are you doing?!" Cinder yelped, trying to shove Vee aside.

"Begging," Vee looked up. "Pretty please, can I co-own him?"

"Co-own?!" Cinder sputtered. "What... what are you talking about?"

"I'll be good, I promise! I'll only borrow him on weekends and... Wednesdays! I'll be extra nice!"

"Is this an Omnid thing?" I asked, raising a eyebrow.

"Ye," Vespera answered, still clinging to Cinder's legs. "She claimed you as property in the most ancient way. I must therefore beg for joint ownership."

"This is ridiculous!" Cinder growled, trying to shake Vee off. "Get up! You're embarrassing yourself!"

"And I'll embarrass myself harder," the Thunderbird stated. "And embarrass you. Please? Pretty please with lightning on top?"

"No!" Cinder's wings flared with possessive violets. "Piss off!"

"Come on," Vespera pouted. "I'll be a responsible co-owner! I'll feed him, walk him, be a good Primo-Sword, make sure he doesn't get into trouble..."

"This is the weirdest conversation I've ever been part of," I commented.

"Pweeeeeease?" Vespera begged, still clinging to Cinder's legs. "I'll let you be the Heart-Shield of his Estate! I just want visitation rights! I'll pay, do whatever you want!"

"No!" Cinder's feathers bristled. "Stop making this weird!"

"I'll make it weirder," Vespera threatened. "I'll start singing. In public. Badly. About how unfair you are. Write sad songs about unrequited thunder-love."

"WHAT?!"

"Oh Cinder, my heart's cruel jailer," Vespera began in a deliberately off-key voice. "Won't share her human, what a terrible failure..."

"How weirded out should I be about being claimed?" I asked from my seat.

"Your opinion is irrelevant," Vee waved me off with a grin. "Humans don't have rights."

"Gee thanks," I fired back.

"Come onnnnn," Vespera returned to whining up at Cinder.

"For the last time, NO!" Cinder smacked Vespera. "Lay off!"

"I'm not gonna lay off," Vespera insisted. "I'm gonna cling to you n' beg till you give in."

"No means no," Cinder growled, trying to pry Vespera off her legs unsuccessfully. "Stop being ridiculous! Let go of me! Don't make me use my wings! I said-LET GO!"

Cinder's wings detonated with blinding colors, voice echoed unnaturally, cutting across my soul. I blinked as my brain momentarily careened sideways trying to let go of Cinder whom I wasn't even holding onto.

Vespera didn't let go. She clung on harder, trembling and blinking.

"Vespera, I said..." Cinder hiss-growled, still speaking with magic-laced words.

"No..." Vespera's voice cracked. Her gray eyes filled with sparks of tears. "You don't understand... I... I need this. I need him. Please!!!"

"What?" Cinder paused in her attempts to shake Vee off. "The Abyss do you need him for?!"

"Please," Vespera sobbed, her playful demeanor melting away. "You don't understand. In four months... four months and I'll never... I'll never be me again. My father will... he'll force me to erase myself... I can't... I need something real. Something true. Please! Please don't take this away from me!"

"You can't just... emotionally blackmail me into whatever this is! That's not how this works!" Cinder looked down with a scowl.

I quietly wondered if this is how Omnid relationships worked. It would be nice to ask Yulia these things, but she wasn't connected to the net now and would potentially hallucinate a made-up answer.

"I need someone who sees me," Vespera continued through her tears. "Who knows the real me. Not the ditzy party girl. Not the perfect heir. Just... me. Please!!! I'll do anything. I'll... I'll sign whatever contract you want! I'll swear not to joke again. I'll sit with you in your dreams every night, for as long as it takes, even if it takes us decades, even if it takes my entire lifetime to stop the high-level Outsider from the lake door! Please... please... I don't want to wake up one day as not me... Please... Ci! I'm begging you... I can't... I can't...."

She broke down completely, her shoulders shaking with sobs.

"You..." Cinder sighed deeply. "You really mean it?"

"No games," Vespera hiccuped. "Not about this. Never about this. Come on, look... I'm crying. I thought that I got that all out of me in Dreamwalking... Blah. Blasted human giving me blasted feelings! This is like the first time I cried IRL since I was six. Ah. Your Charmchain must have broken some barrier-stuff in my head. Thanks a lot, Ci."

Cinder looked down at the sobbing Thunderbird.

"Vee..." she said softly. "Why do you even give a shit about the chain-soul-tag? I honestly expected you to just flip me off and fly off to lightning-make out with him or... something else equally stupid and brash."

"'Cus... sometime... before summer break, I'll need to get engaged to this pink sausage," Vespera pointed a magisteel claw at me. "Properly. Legally. In a Cathedral. With a Nazarite Archpriest Soul Binder who'd absolutely see your claim and would refuse to bind me to someone else's claimed soul! I need to, HAVE to void the chains tying me to Golden Star! I want to do this right. I don't want to steal him from under you. I don't want to trick anyone. I want... I want something real! Something honest. For once in my life, I want to not pretend, damn it!"

Her voice cracked as more tears came.

"And... and maybe if I do this right, if I follow the rules... maybe you'll trust me. Maybe we can be real friends, not just... not just people who hang out and get very drunk and smack monsters because Em says so. Maybe..."

She trailed off into silence, sparking tears falling into the water.

Cinder remained silent.