It's been a while since I've had such a good night's sleep, maybe it's because I usually rest on the ground. I slept on a metal floor in both the robot and pipe place, so I kind of forgot what comfy things felt like.

"Ho, you're awake," Trin says as she flips a page of a book she's reading. "You talk in your sleep."

"Not this again..." I scratch my head trying to remember what I dreamed about, but I'm coming up blank. "What did I say?"

"My name," she suddenly closes her book with a loud thud, but she doesn't stop staring at the book. "And I never told you my name, did I?"

"Your name? Trin?" it's true she never told me her name, but I never told her mine either, so just assumed that we both knew each other's name was just a quirk of this world.

"That's my nickname, you can tell anyone's nickname by a normal examination." She puts the book away and slowly turns her head towards me. "There's only three ways of getting someone's real name, if you get told directly, if you kill them or if you do a full examination on them. Now, as far as I can tell I'm not dead, and since I never told you my name, this only leaves the full examination as a possibility. Do you know what a full examination does, Leave?"

"It gives all relevant information of that person?" I hazard a guess. I technically hadn't used this system's examination skill, but the result was probably the same.

"That's right!" She clasps her hand together in fake enthusiasm. "Which not only includes my true name, but also my race!"

Her voice starts to shake.

"You knew." She quietly says, "You knew this entire fucking time."

"Ho, yeah, I guess I did know that." I reply, trying to avoid her accusing gaze.

"Honestly, I expected it," she explains, calmer than before. "At first I just saw your soul shining like a beacon and I thought : 'Yes, this is my chance! If I can get this guy's soul then I'm set for life!'. But then the more I looked at your soul, the more I realized that it's even bigger than I thought, that you're actually holding back. If someone that is holding back is already that strong, then it's probably child's play for them to know what I am. I was next to someone that could kill me without even trying, that knew I wanted their soul. Do you know how scary that is?"

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"So why didn't you just...run away?" I ask, still too scared to look at her in the eyes. Wait, scared?

"Because I thought you were probably some bored fucking god that just treated me as some toy for entertainment. I run away and don't play with your little game? You just obliterate me without a thought. Or maybe you tell someone else in the pantheon about how I ruined your fun little adventure and I just get incinerated by them instead!" Her voice bounces between calm and angry, as if she's not even sure what she's exactly feeling, either.

She takes a long deep breath and slowly exhale, before coming back to a softer tone, "But if you are a god, I don't think you're the asshole kind, I think you're just lonely."

"Lonely?"

"Your body language, the way you can't stay still and constantly need to say something to fill the silence, every single story you told me back then was always how you felt about them and never how they felt about you."

For some reason, I can't bring myself to look at her. Scared? That can't be right, yeah I'm just frustrated that my plan has gone wrong, that must be it. Frustration.

"I'm sorry," is all I can mutter. I hide inside my sleeping bag. Like a warm cocoon that nothing can invade, a safe space.

"Sorry for what, dumbass!?" she says, as I can hear her slip out of her bed and walk on the creaky wood floor. "You know what's important in a relationship? Communication! You know what I am, so now you have to tell me what you are. THEN, and only THEN, we'll be even."

I poke my head out of the sleeping bag like a caterpillar emerging from its chrysalis. "You're not mad?" I ask more shyly than expected.

She lightly flicks my forehead. "A little, but I also just naturally sound pissed off. So don't take it to heart, aight? Also, sorry, but I won't do the whole 'childhood friend sidekick' shtick anymore, that was super annoying to keep up. You have no idea how liberating it is to be able to curse again."

"So I just need to tell you about myself? Although I don't think I'm that interesting..." I mutter.

"Mhh? Why are you acting all shy now?" her face gets uncomfortably close to mine. I blush despite myself. "By Tetrold's tits, are you telling me I was already your type THIS ENTIRE FUCKING TIME?" She massages her temples with an annoyed look on her face. "I'm never going to live this one down, am I? I hope she never learns about this, I can already hear her smug fucking laugh..."

"Hey! I never said I was into you! You being so close just made me feel weird! It's a natural reaction!" I try to justify myself.

I can hear her laugh, an awkward, annoying, but honest laugh.

For some reason, seeing her so happy makes me wonder when I last laughed like this. I think I chuckled before, but I can't remember the last time I actually truly laughed so hard I was unable to stop myself.

"Hey, can you teach me how to laugh like that too?" I ask, unable to take my eyes off of her.

"Mhh?" She wipes a tear from her eye. "Sorry, I was- pfrtt. Okay, okay, I'll stop now. What did you say?"

"Ha, it's nothing, don't worry about it." I don't think I was thinking straight when I asked that, anyway.

"Well, whatever it was, you'll have to tell me on the road." She cracks her knuckles. "We've got a dragon to murder, don't we?"