0-4 Dragon's Den

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"I don't want it," Red whined.

"No one ever beats the Rising Gym," Little Girl said in a tone like she was explaining something very simple to a particularly stupid child. It was cute. "We intentionally raise the difficulty. They saw you had mid-to-early Fifth Realm Pokémon, so they one-upped you with mid-to-late Fifth Realm Pokémon. That you performed so well is a mark in your favor. If actually winning was a requirement for the Rising Badge, no Johtonian would ever make it to the Indigo Conference- at least, not without dipping into Kanto."

Red gave her a pitifully hopeful look. "You think I did well? Really?"

"Ah… yes?" She seemed uncertain.

"Waaah!" Red cried out melodramatically, falling to his knees next to her and grabbing onto her hand. She reared back in surprise. "My little sister is so nice to me! Whatever did I do to deserve this?!"

"Cut it out, you weirdo," she hissed, drawing her hand back.

Thirty feet away and one ridge up, the Blackthorn trainer shook his head, smiled, and continued on his walk.

Red stood back up, dusting off his pants with a casual air like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Little Girl gave him wary looks.

"Lance offered me a reward, in acknowledgement of my abilities," he lied. "I'm to visit Dragon's Den. Said that meditating on that Dragon Nexus with Charizard would help me break through into the Fourth Realm, and Charizard into the Sixth. He accepted."

"That's nice," Little Girl said. She had the good sense not to look around shiftily. A Dark Aura thing, natural talent, or a relic of her Fantasia education? He wasn't sure.

"We can steal the Deino egg then," Red said with none of her subtlety.

She hissed at him again. "Keep it down! Do you want us to get caught?"

"A little bit," he admitted, and she glowered. So cute! "Relax," he told her, drawing it out in that patronizing way he knew she hated. "Espeon is keeping watch. She always is, the creep."

"Don't say such mean things about your Pokémon," Little Girl said disapprovingly, but did indeed relax.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, Espeon is key. I'll bring you along because 'I can't leave her anywhere without her making a mess of the place, you know how it is,' the Blackthorn guide laughs, I laugh, Espeon hypnotizes everyone and you sneak off into Dragon's Den. You already know the layout of the place, so finding wherever they keep the eggs should be a cinch. Once you're back, I'll act like I've had some huge breakthrough with Charizard, and we'll leave in a right hurry. Check out?"

"That… should work," she said slowly, like she doesn't want to believe it but can't deny it, either. "All our anti-theft protections are in the torii gate and in the mountain's earth. We don't have much in the way of Psychic or Ghost-type guards, though we have some, and it was we Fantasia that was historically tasked with protecting it. The reason no one ever steals from the vaults or the nursery is because no one can get in or out without a pass- that, and we have a rather fearsome reputation, I suppose." That was an understatement. "When's our pass for?"

"Right now," Red admitted.

"What!"

"The best time to meditate and break through is after a good battle, when your muscles are sore and your Aura depleted," Red informed her. "It's like putting air in a balloon. It's easier to put air in an empty balloon then a full one. If Charizard and me want to acclimate to a greater level of Dragon-type power, we can't do it when our power stores are full."

"I know how breakthroughs work, I've done it before," she said disparagingly, but she was thinking. Eventually, she nodded. "Okay. You're kind of weird, but I'll trust you. I'm super dead if I get caught, so my life's in your hands, okay? I'll be in your debt forever if this works."

"I know how you can pay off that debt," Red said mysteriously, and when she blanched, his eyes widened and he waved his hands in a panic. "I meant you can become my student! I'll be your mentor! My rival Blue showed off his student last time we met and I was super jealous. He said he's a better mentor than I could ever be, and I took that personally. I want to wipe that smug smile off his stupid face. If I can teach a student that can defeat Blue's, I'll be able to hold that against him for the rest of our lives. Okay? I didn't mean anything bad!"

Slowly, she uncoiled, looking away before hesitantly meeting his eyes. He couldn't decipher the thoughts behind her cool, Ice trainer façade.

The walk to Dragon's Den was slow and awkward.

Eventually, she spoke. "Fine. I believe you. I don't know why you want a student who lost her starter and cultivation, but I'll do my best."

The joy he felt at hearing those words was entirely unlike the joy he felt in the Rising Gym, but he cherished it just as much. He'd try to be a little more straightforward with her. Not quite upright – he was still who he was, and he made no apologies for that – but like a young Pokémon, he needed to cultivate her heart and mind as much as her power.

That was a good way of looking at it, actually. He had taught all his Pokémon not just to improve their power and might, but a variety of strategies and when to use which ones, how to keep their cool in a heated battle, and the right attitude to keep morale up when faced with failure. As entertaining as messing with her was, he needed to build up her confidence, establish a bond of trust, all that jazz. He just… hasn't had to do that, in a while.

He'll work on it.

They arrived at Dragon's Den before long. There was no bridge across the small lake to the strip of land – presumably, Blackthorns landed on it on dragonback – and after looking, he saw no sign of their guard.

Charizard didn't usually consent to short flights like this, but he was eager for the chance to channel a Dragon Nexus, and he was always much more mellow after a good brawl, anyway. He let him out in a flash of red.

The fire dragon raised both arms towards the sky in a triumphant pose, flexing and stretching and breathing small plumes of smoke. He looked satisfied, content. The Blackthorn's Chansey had healed him up, so he showed few physical marks of the battle – a few scratches here, the Crunch mark on his left shoulder there – but Red could feel his Aura exhaustion.

He had the right to be happy, Red supposed. Gyarados is a tough matchup. And a Gyarados like that? Even though they lost in the end, none of his team have anything to be ashamed of. They would have won if Red had intelligently used his switch or not outmaneuvered himself into having to use a Water and Fire/Flying-type against a Kingdra and Gyarados. If he had used Blastoise and Charizard earlier, saved Pikachu for later, they could've won. Of course, he had to use Pikachu because none of his other Pokémon were small enough to pick up the Baton Pass in the Dug tunnels-

"You were amazing out there," Little Girl said with stars in her eyes, looking up at a Charizard that looked increasingly smug. "I've never seen a Charizard contest a Rain Dance while using a complicated move like Flare Blitz to its full potential. And, when you used both Dragon Claw and Thunder Punch- that Gyarados had as much Dragon in it as it did Flying, so it was the right call to make, and neither element flickered at all, despite how difficult it is to channel opposing elements like that-"

"Charizard is wonderfully trained," Red humble-bragged, not even slightly jealous of all the praise going to a prick like Charizard. Honest. "And we're going to break through to the next Realm together as soon as we get across that lake."

A rumbling laugh. Charizard knelt to allow Little Girl onto his back, which was uncharacteristically sweet of him, then he grabbed Red between his claws, which wasn't. Seconds later, they were across.

Red felt the pressure as he passed the torii gate: Ghost, mostly, with a decent amount of Psychic. Either the Dark is in the earth, was too subtle for him to notice – not impossible – or Dragon's Den is vulnerable to Dark, now that the Fantasia are all gone. He was no good at advanced sensory stuff like this.

Their guide was kneeling just beyond the first turn, in near-complete blackness. Dressed in the blue and red traditional garb of the Blackthorn clan, what might have been a kimono before centuries of minor adjustments and warfare made it almost into a tracksuit, the only thing unusual about her was that she's the first Blackthorn he's seen with only a Second Realm soul. It was primary Water, too, which made him wonder if she was from a branch clan like Little Girl. It was hard to tell without any lights save Charizard's burning tail.

"Please follow me, honored guests," she said in a pretty contralto, then rose.

Part of Dragon's Den's defense must come from its labyrinthine structure, because Red was lost in minutes. The tunnels all led deeper into the mountain, but there were numerous forks, twists, and turns, and not a single torch or electric light to be seen. Did they all navigate based on Aura sense? Red could do that in Mt Moon, but they were so close to the Dragon Nexus that all sense of detail in the Rock and Ground was overshadowed. Would he be able to look past that burning light after enough years spent in close proximity to it? How much would it change him, if he could?

There was a power in so completely giving yourself over to a single Type. Red couldn't deny that, not when twenty of the twenty-one strongest trainers in Indigo were Type Masters. He couldn't do it, though. He likes being Red, and doesn't know who'd he be if he specialized in Electric like he so easily could have. It would have made him more impulsive, obsessive, and cruel, would have made him not-Red, and the thought of his cultivation changing who he was on that fundamental level horrified him. It's why he had such a Type-diverse team, why he makes sure to cultivate even Types he doesn't have a bond with like Dragon and Ice, and why he could never understand how casually other trainers devote themselves to a single Type.

Was their guide always so zen and chill, or did she have more passion before creating for herself a soul of Water? If Little Girl still had her Dragon soul, earlier, when she told him to cut it out and called him a weirdo, would there have been real anger? He can get a rise out of her pretty easily, but her scowls and biting words lack any heat; they seem performative, even, like a habit and not an actual emotional response. Like it was her emotional response, before Lance broke her cultivation, and she started anew with Ice.

He made a mental note to make sure she cultivated more than just Ice and Dark. For her own sake. If he ever teased her and she just looked at him blankly, like Lyra Whitegrave does, he's breaking off his mentorship immediately.

With all that being said, it's time to add a twelfth Type to his hybrid soul. The Dragon Nexus awaits, hot like the core of the earth.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"The Nexus lies beyond this door, honored guests," their guide said in a hushed, reverent voice. "Neither I nor the honored trainer's sister are permitted entry. We shall wait for you here."

'Here' being yet another black stone hallway, looking clawed out of the earth rather than cut or carved, entirely lacking in decoration, light, or heat save the Dragon Nexus' ephemeral heat. He gave his 'sister' a dubious look.

"I'll be alright," Little Girl said, looking sick. "Miss Whisperain will look after me."

Their guide – presumably of the Whisperain branch clan – blinked in surprise, and Red thought, Now!

Espeon appeared in a flash of red light, and their guide fell to the floor like a doll, fast asleep. Espeon's red gem glinted ominously, and Whisperain's body contorted unnaturally until she was seated in a stock-standard seiza, back against the wall, appearing for all the world like she was in meditation.

"I thought you were going to modify her memory," Little Girl said, eyes on their guide.

"Never taught Espeon the skill. That kind of thing isn't really my style." The extent of his subterfuge is delaying an alarm being raised for a few hours. Standard Hypnosis is enough for that. "Besides. Memory modification is against the Indigo Legal Code. Tsk, tsk, Little Girl."

"Like you care about the law," she muttered, but her gaze moved back up to him. "I can reach the nursery from here in fifteen minutes. Should be back in forty at the most, if Espeon and I need to wait out any passersby. Miss Whisperain took us on a back path away from most traffic, so that works in our favor."

"I'll see you then," Red said, a promise. Little Girl nodded and ran.

Red took a deep breath, fortifying himself, then pushed open the door.

The Nexus chamber was a grand thing, a vertical shaft three hundred meters tall with tiered steps like an upside-down pyramid. It was hot like a sauna and nearly as humid, a tension in the air like a dragon looking over his shoulder and thick enough to cut, but he knew it was all in his mind. With every step further down, the Dragon Aura grew deeper, more potent, and he felt his pulse race. He was afraid.

Afraid of the chamber. Afraid of the Nexus. Afraid of who awaited him down there, too, and their own Aura, just as fierce and powerful. To inspire fear in others: this is the nature of the Dragon type.

Three quarters of the way down, he could go no further. He fell to a knee then onto his ass, pushed his back up against the step, and, for a minute, just… breathed.

"You never get used to it," Lance said, seated next to him cross-legged. At the deepest point, in the heart of the Nexus, a Dragonite in the Seventh Realm stood, wing beats kicking up a lazy wind.

"I'm sure Charizard… is appreciating it," Red said pointedly.

Lance was quiet for a long moment. Eventually, he said, "It was never my intention to cause Blake such pain. I did what little I could to shelter her from it. It wasn't enough."

"I'm going to be honest, Lance," Red said, voice carefully neutral. "I don't think I'm the right person to be telling this to."

"Yeah. Me neither."

They were quiet for a moment. Charizard was cultivating the Dragon Nexus with vigor, and Red should be, too, but he was too distracted. Less than twenty-four hours since he met the kid and already it's getting in the way of his advancement; if Blue were here, he would laugh himself sick. By all rights, as soon as Lance told him that he's had a Ghost tag the girl since the Fantasia Massacre, and he wants Red to step in as her mentor, he should have cut and ran.

The path to the peak of human potential is a lonely one. You could get there with the help of others, like Lance has, but it came at a cost: the kind of cost that made you watch helplessly as a kid you loved like a sister lost her family and had to scrounge for scraps in a place like Icy Path. Red much prefered the path that he, and Blue, and the Old Man took, where you relied on no one and nothing but yourself, and no one suffered the punishment of failure or earned the rewards of success but you.

He empathized with Lance. He really did. He didn't like empathizing with people, but he's been where Lance is: eager to make a change, powerful where it doesn't matter and weak where it does. And it's entirely because he understands so well that he knows the Dragon Master is betting on the wrong Rapidash.

"I was born to take over the Blackthorn clan, but I had always been exceptional, and I knew I could do so much more," Lance began, and Red sat and listened to the trainer two Realms above him.

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I was ambitious. Arrogant. These traits only made me better suited to the Dragon-type. I wanted to change things; I saw how Blackthorn City and our clan and our nation was ran, and I thought, 'I could do better;' then I thought, 'I will do better.'

My little sister, Claire, was born to helm the Rising Gym. If I were to be Champion of Indigo, though, then she would need to step up and lead the clan in my place. I couldn't do both, after all, not without dropping the ball on one. That left a vacancy in the Gym.

Blake was just Claire's attendant back then. The Fantasia clan were the only Dark specialists under the auspices of the Blackthorn, so children from that clan were raised to be servants of mine; they would protect against thieves, assassins, and spies, manage the wardings around Dragon's Den, and occasionally perform espionage. I never came to trust mine, but Claire trusted Blake. It had been her idea, in the beginning; what would be a better sign of change in Blackthorn then putting a branch clan scion in charge of the Rising Gym?

There was going to be pushback. If we were to pull this off, then Blake's cultivation had to be peerless, her team beyond reproach, and there could be no better aspirant to the position. The Fantasias didn't have the resources to invest in her as we needed, so I began spending more and more time with them. Before long, I began to see Blake as my own sister, as well.

The three of us were going to change the future, change Blackthorn. Change Indigo. I still don't know where it all went wrong.

… Blake's mother is an executive in Team Rocket. Her name is Ariana.

I see you've heard of her. She leads the Johto chapter; ironically, we've been chasing her for years.

She was the leader of the Fantasia clan's external affairs, in charge of protecting Dragon's Den from infiltration among other duties. She had been my mother's personal attendant, in their youth. It was a security breach the likes of which Blackthorn hasn't experienced in six hundred years, when we were almost destroyed by the Whitegraves. It made my mother – the Clan Head – and the Council of Elders… panic.

We mobilized within the hour. It was still enough time for the Fantasia malefactors to realize their treachery was discovered and scatter. Ariana wasn't at the compound when we arrived, and neither was half the clan. I don't know if Blake and her father being left behind was intentional or a mistake, don't know how much her father knew or, really, how much Blake knew. I want to say she was entirely ignorant, told my mother as much when she questioned me, but… in my heart of hearts, I doubted.

The others knew how close I was to Blake, and as heir, when I told them I would go after her myself, they let me. I didn't know what I would do or say as I flew after her on Dragonite. I questioned her, pleaded with her, told her I would believe whatever she had to say, and… when she told me that she knew nothing, I didn't believe her. But I couldn't kill her. Didn't have it in me.

I could sense Elder Anders approach on dragonback. I knew my clan would expect me to return with Blake's Dragonair and Deino egg, so I took those. Anders was close enough to sense her Aura, so if she was to escape alive, she… couldn't have that, either. I told her to run, then had my Drakloak – that's a half-Ghost Dragon, they're foreign – follow her, keep her safe, without her knowing. Had Dragonite blast the earth with Dragonbreath.

When Anders arrived, I told him that I gave her a Blackthorn funeral: cremation by dragonfire. He said she didn't deserve it, but I had her starter and egg, and he couldn't sense her Aura, so it all checked out and he believed me. I was still kept under a close watch all of this past month. I contented myself with the knowledge that Blake got out alive and Drakloak was keeping her safe. Told myself I didn't care if she regrouped with her mother and used what I taught her to live a life of terrorism and parasitic cultivation, so long as she was living at all.

Imagine my surprise when he returned to me yesterday, reporting a mysterious, red-eyed trainer had come across her in Icy Path, and they were plotting to steal back that egg.

I don't consider myself to be especially intelligent. I know where my strengths lie, and they aren't in schemes, or reading people, or predicting fallout. That's always been Blake's thing. Still, I know that if Blake spent this past month in Icy Path, then she couldn't have been a Rocket conspirator. That I doubted her… I'm ashamed of myself. I failed as her brother.

I intend for you to do better.

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"What's in it for me?" Red asked, because it has always been easier to play the role of greedy, self-interested trainer than admit to… anything, really. "You're asking for me to take on a lot of risk for negative gain."

"I gave your description to my secretary at dusk, and by dawn, she gave me a ten-page dossier," Lance said, and the words were a threat even if the tone wasn't. "The trainer who stormed the Rocket Base hidden under the Celadon Game Corner doesn't need an excuse to forge the daughter of an Executive into an anti-Rocket weapon."

Red acknowledged the point. He had also offered to help Blake steal a dragon egg from the Blackthorn clan and he sure as fuck wasn't getting anything out of that. "You'd be okay with that? Letting your precious sister be used like that?"

"I want her to be happy, but I know a fool's quest when I see one. She won't let herself be happy until she feels she's been properly avenged."

That made sense.

"I'm also lacking in options," Lance admitted, and that made more. "All my contacts and resources are Blackthorn, and I can't trust them with this. You were taught Pokémon lore at the knee of Champion Oak, and I witnessed your prowess in battle myself. I can trust in your strength if nothing else."

"Fine, fine, I'll do it," Red said. It had taken months of tireless effort to make Executive Archer hate him and dedicate a small Rocket team to harassing and attempting to murder him, and though this whole adventure hadn't earned him the enmity of Lance like he hoped it would, eventually getting on Executive Ariana's shitlist makes for a decent consolation prize.

He had also meant what he said to Blake earlier, about showing up Blue and his student. Taking her on in this way may have been Lance's idea, spoken with a toothy grin during the most terrifying handshake of his life, but that made him no less genuine in meaning it.

"I'm still asking for compensation, though," Red added. "Just think of it this way: anything you give to me, you indirectly give to Blake."

Lance gave him a considering look. "It's… uncommon, but not unheard of, for the Blackthorn clan to sponsor trainers. Doing so for a Kantonian would be new, but I'm considered something of a maverick within the clan."

Red's eyes gleamed with greed.

Lance gave a small laugh and stood. "I'll leave you to your cultivation then. It's best I'm gone before Blake returns. And… thank you, Red. We'll be meeting again."

"That we will. If you're going to be Champion, I'll be coming for your throne."

"I'm looking forward to it," the Dragon Master said with an earnest smile.

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Breaking through to the Fourth Realm was easier than he thought it would be.

Charizard roared beside him, breathing dragonfire upwards, blue and sparking. As the trainer bond was meant to be, Charizard broke through the Sixth at the same time.

"Yes," he said through grit teeth, sweet triumph in his veins. "Yes! Finally."

His Aura expanded within his soul- or, rather, decompressed, from where the past few months of cultivation had seen it become tighter and denser. He could now easily release his entire team and maintain their bonds with room to spare for two more Charizards, if he so wished.

He held out a hand and cupped within it, flickered a small dragonflame. As he gazed into the fire, he could maybe, kind of, sort of understand why someone could pursue this strength to the exclusion of all else.

He shook it out, then set his finger to crackling with electric current. The infusion of Dragon-type power hadn't shifted his Aura out of alignment any, which was good.

The Old Man had all seventeen Types balanced in his soul. A worthless achievement, most people would say, but then most people weren't Champion of Indigo.

Red spent the remaining time before Blake's return in a calmer, more quiet meditation. When the tentative knock came at the door, the draconic euphoria had faded and he was left feeling… still pretty good, naturally, but he wasn't going to weird her out more than he usually does.

He looked down the steps of the Nexus chamber and wondered how much deeper he could go, now. Hesitantly, he turned and walked up instead.

Beyond the door stood Blake, looking frazzled with a black-specked egg in her arms, their Whisperain clan guide nowhere to be seen.

"Congratulations on the advancement," Blake said politely, then struggled to say anything else. Eventually, "I would like to leave, now."

Red nodded understandingly and followed her out. Blake's steps were no less sure than Whisperain's had been on the way down, but her demeanor radiated anxiety and uncertainty. Red didn't like it.

He didn't know what to do about it, though. He was never good at this kind of thing, not like Green was. He was good at cultivating, and training, and memorizing obscure Pokémon lore, not at offering comfort to traumatized teen girls. What would Green do, if she were here?

… Give her a hug, and offer to listen without judgment, then physically assault everyone who had hurt her.

Red could do one and a half of those things.

"Did something happen in the nursery?" he asked, voice inquiring but not, like, too curious.

Blake twitched. "Nothing. I handled it."

Red could still assault Ariana, at least. It was bound to happen eventually.

The trek to the surface passed in silence. The route was just as incomprehensible as it had been before, and Red still didn't know if the lack of human presence was Lance's influence or just the nature of Dragon's Den. How deep did it go, really? Blake hadn't described it except in the barest of terms. Her natural shiftiness, or lingering loyalty to Blackthorn?

Did she know her mother was a Rocket Executive?

"Did you know your mother is a Rocket Executive?"

Blake tripped and fell. She shot him a look of shock and disbelief. So, no, she didn't- unless she was surprised that he knew, not at the information itself.

"Lance told me everything," Red continued, voice pitched in a pleasant cadence. He kept walking. "He said he knew who you were, as he shook my hand, and that he was on your side and to come to Dragon's Den. Turns out he had a Ghost tailing you, so he knew all along. Surprise!"

"Why…" She hesitated, shook her head, then glared at him with a hot, Dragon-like fury. "Why are you telling me this? So you can gloat? Take my Pokémon again, leave me here, fuck off to the conference and your own hopes and dreams?"

"It would have been wrong to keep you in the dark," he said honestly. He didn't hold her rage against her; relished seeing it, even. "I'm a simple soul, Blake. I intend to reach the peak of human potential, raise a team of Seventh Realm monsters, and become Indigo Champion. No more, no less. I seek out enemies and rivalries because I believe it is through challenge and adversity that we surpass our limits. I avoid allies and friends because I was raised to think that other people could only ever hold me back.

"A few weeks ago, my oldest rival and I… no, my first friend and I, involved ourselves in a plot to destroy Team Rocket's Kanto chapter. Long story short, we publicly exposed the identity of Team Rocket's leader, Giovanni. Blue ended up taking on his son as a student. Giovanni is also the leader of the Viridian Gym, which is why I had to detour into Johto for my eighth badge.

"Near the end, I battled Giovanni one-on-one. I performed well. Damn well. Giovanni crushed me like a bug beneath his heel, and if Blue hadn't been there, despite me attempting to push him away to keep all the glory and challenge for myself, I'd be dead.

"I'm not going to say it made me reflect on my ways and decide to change. It'd be a lie. I'm… open, though, to the idea that my aversion to other people is born of my own fear, and not a logical certitude that I'd be better off alone. I refuse to be a coward. Blue challenged me to find and raise my own student, and I took him up on it. I intend for you to be that student."

Blake mulled it over. After several minutes of walking, she said, "So, ultimately, this is all about you and not about me at all."

Red laughed. "Yep. Green always said I knew how to make everything be about me."

"She sounds wise." Blake looked at him seriously, and nodded. "You're a Fourth Realm generalist with a Fifth Realm team and eight badges. You don't have any clan ties, you don't seem to have any responsibilities or obligations at all, and you're selfishly motivated to see me succeed as both a cultivator and a trainer. You're also not entirely unbearable in personality. This is probably as good as it gets, for me, so I accept. I'll do you proud, if only because I intend to do myself proud and our goals align."

"Awh, you do like me," Red cooed. He could see beyond her prickly clan-heiress attitude to the gooey feelings within! She looked up to him! She thought he was cool! "First rule of being Red's student: you have to call me big brother."

"I refuse."

"Agree to calling me your big brother and I'll give you a Lapras."

"I… I accept," she said, like the words physically pained her.

Success! "Second rule of being Red's student: you need a color name. How about Black?"

"Like Blackthorn? No."

"So you're willing to accept a color name," Red said, seizing the moment. "Yellow."

Her face scrunched up in distaste. "That's far too bright a color. I'll tolerate Gold."

"But- no, wait, this is perfect," Red realized. Blue's protégé's name was Silver. How better to tell Blue that his student was better than by naming her after the prettier, more precious metal?

Gold gave him a side-eye. "I agree, but why are you so pleased?"

"Hmm. That's a secret."

"You just said it'd be wrong to keep me in the dark-"

They didn't stop bickering once as they left Dragon's Den and Blackthorn behind.