For a few seconds, Remicra simply growled, blushing furiously.

“Heh. That sounded pretty darn possessive," Dave teased. "Almost like you might care about me or something. Did you bite your tongue off there? What’s all this growling?”

"What do you want from me?!" Remicra finally burst out, her voice cracking slightly.

Dave fell silent for a minute, thinking about the answer. Being open and honest seemed to do the trick.

"I want to take you out," he said. "On a date."

"A... what?" Remicra blinked. “WHAT?!”

"A date. You know, where two people who like each other go somewhere nice together?"

“Nowhere is nice for me in Shandria,” she hissed back. "I'm a slave. I can't just go… out."

"You can now," Dave pointed out. "I am a haughty human Lord from the Shadow Empire capital or whatever. I own you. I can take you wherever… you want to go.”

Remicra’s growl intensified at the middle of his sentence, but then her mouth opened and remained open as she simply stared at him.

“I want to see you get stronger too. Nowhere is nice? What kind of excuse is that? Train with me. Help me beat up some monsters. Go on Quests with me. I want to see you shine bright, Remy."

"Why?"

"Because in this cesspit of a screwed up inverted world, you're a brilliant, warm ray of sunlight," Dave admitted, releasing her wrists. "Arx is horrible and twisted from every which way I look at it. God Emperors, the Shandrian High Lords, the Shadow Leviathan, the endless wars, the lowborn suffering - and it's probably been this way forever. But you... you're different. Despite everything they did to you, you're still shining bright. You can pretend that you’re broken, growl at me, snap at me as much as you want… but I know who you are now. I’ve seen your soul, Remy.”

Remicra choked and pulled back slightly, her scales dancing between shades of pink and orange. She wrapped her arms around herself defensively, her tail curling tight against her leg. "I... Argh! You impossible, clueless human! You don't understand what you're asking for," she growled.

"What don't I understand?" Dave got off the bench and walked forward, closing the distance she'd tried to create. Healy jumped back onto his shoulder.

"You're a pure human," she said, gesturing at his chest with a clawed hand. "You can't date a… a Pathosteel Dragon."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm toxic to you!" She exclaimed, waving her scaled hand. "You already got Felislice flakes in your system, you knob! Do you want to add Draconic Pathosteel to that? You have no extra affinity, no resistance to me! My sweat and saliva is basically… poison to a pure human!"

“Oh,” Dave said with a frown.

“Uh-huh,” Remicra said. “Didn’t know that, did you?”

"But you've touched me before," he said.

"Yes because I had to pull Felislice flakes from you," she said. "But this stuff gradually builds up in your body, weakens you like an insidious infection."

Dave caught her hand before she could pull it away. "Maybe I don't care about that? Maybe I’ll go align myself to a Cantigeist, get some extra affinity? Hell, even as I am now, I’ve got a Level Thirty Four Vitalix. I’m not going to perish tragically if some more metal gets into my blood or whatever. Also, can’t you pull the excess metal out of me, make me more weapons or something?”

“What are you… s-some kind of masochist?!” Remicra demanded.

“Eh,” Dave replied with a shrug. “Everything on Arx is already trying to kill me. You’ll have to get in line.”

Healy chimed in agreement, hopping onto Remicra’s shoulder and rubbing her face against the dragoness’ cheek.

“See, Healy likes you,” he said with a smile.

Remicra stared at the Kitlix with an incredulous expression.

“One date. If it goes terribly, you can go back to growling at me and pretending you don't care."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"I don't pretend—" she started to protest, then caught herself as Dave raised an eyebrow. "You know what… Fine! Fffffine. Abyss-damned persistent human! If your heart stops because your veins get clogged with metal and crystalline scales don’t whine at me!”

----------------------------------------

As the pair descended into the main floor of the lighthouse, Dave was surprised by how much progress had been made in cleaning and organizing the space.

Several wooden tables were arranged in a semicircle near the entrance, each adorned with a small vase containing what looked like luminescent algae blooms. Hyrei was busy hanging small, glass Ignix lanterns from newly installed hooks in the ceiling, their soft golden light adding a cozy ambiance to the space.

"You guys work fast! The place is already looking much cozier," Dave commented, noticing how even the forge area had been tidied up.

"Too fast," Remicra muttered. "Where's all my stuff?"

"Still here," Hyrei called down from her perch near the ceiling. "We just organized it better.”

“Organized it to where?” Remicra demanded.

The owlgirl jumped down with a flutter of wind, landing softly. “Here, into the cabinets along the wall. Since Burgundy’s men emptied the storage room of all supplies, I got the extra shelves from there.”

“Hrm, fine,” the dragoness acquiesced. “I still think that this is a terrible idea. Smithing makes noise and heat… Plus, Dave wants me to teach him… smithing.”

“We’ll separate the forge area off with a noise and heat canceling ward curtain,” Hyrei said, leading them outside. “Off you go, don't get in the way now.”

Murdoc's enormous snail was parked directly in front of the lighthouse, pearlescent shell gleaming in the sunlight.

“That’s one big snail,” the dragoness commented. She stopped at the edge of the ward, nervously glancing at Dave.

Dave looked down at the control bracelet on his wrist, carefully adjusting the ward's boundary. The metal disc clicked as he turned it, expanding the protective barrier further out into the meadow. The shimmering ward bubble extended out far ahead of them, past the massive snail shell.

"Come on," he said, taking Remicra's hand. "It's safe."

They settled into two of the newly placed chairs outside the lighthouse. The view was breathtaking - rolling hills stretched out before them, their gentle slopes dotted with patches of colorful flowers. In the distance, the colorful mage tower spires of Shandria rose like colorful, crystalline fingers reaching for the sky. On the other side, curtains of clouds rolled across the abyss.

Dave was just starting to relax, enjoying the scenic view with Remicra when the lighthouse door burst open. Cedez stumbled out, her dark fur bristling, ears flat against her head. Her usual playful demeanor was completely gone, replaced by a panicked expression.

"Cedez?" he called out, turning. "What's wrong?"

The foxgirl didn't even look at him. She darted past, her leather boots clicking rapidly against the stone as she rushed up the lighthouse's spiral staircase to the balcony.

"Hrm," Remicra commented dryly. "Who buggered the fox?"

Terri emerged from the lighthouse. The elkgirl's usual serene expression was firmly in place.

"Terri?" Dave turned to the Healer apprentice. "Is Cedez still upset at the whole soul-modding business?"

"No. This is merely another small disagreement," Terri replied smoothly.

"Huh?" He voiced. "Small? She looks pretty terrified.”

Terri didn’t say anything in reply, but there were blue sparks dancing in her eyes, the Cantigeist gears spinning in her head visible to Healy’s sight.

“Right then,” Dave frowned. “I’m going to check on how she’s doing.”

He quickly climbed the winding metal staircase, his footsteps echoing against the dark steps.

When he reached the balcony level, he found Cedez curled into a ball on the red and black patio sofa, fluffy tail wrapped around herself protectively. Her ears were still flat against her head, and she was visibly trembling.

Murdoc was there too, sitting on a patio armchair, his arms crossed. The old Snailmancer's face was creased with concern as he looked down at his adopted granddaughter.

"What happened?" Dave asked, moving closer to Cedez.

"Not sure," Murdoc replied gruffly. "Won't even reply to me. She's pretty upset by the look of things. What'd you say to her?”

“This wasn't Dave's fault.” Remicra came up the stairwell. “I was with him for the past few hours.”

Dave sat down next to Cedez, careful not to startle her. "Hey," he said softly. "Want to tell me what's going on?"

Cedez's ears twitched at his voice, but she remained curled up.

“And who might you be?” Murdoc asked the dragon smith.

“According to the fox herself, I’m her future best friend,” Remicra shot back at the old wizard.

“Oh?” Murdoc asked. “Really?”

“That’s what she keeps insisting on,” Remicra shrugged. She looked at Dave’s attempts to coax an answer out of the potential shadow princess.

Without ceremony, the dragoness stepped towards the sofa and grabbed Cedez by the scruff of her neck like an unruly kitten and lifted her up. “Hey, bestie!”

Cedez made a mewling sound, opening a single blue eye to stare at Remica.

"Oi fox," Remicra said. "What's wrong with you now? Did Dave not sort out your problem?”

Cedez squeaked a reply, her legs dangling. She looked at Terri who also joined them on the balcony. Remicra turned to the healer still holding Cedez by the scruff of her leather dress.

"What did you do to her?" Remicra demanded, turning to face Terri. “Why is she so limp?”

"I merely explained some unfortunate truths to her," Terri replied. "She is a security risk. Every night, when she loses herself to the Shadow, she shares everything she knows with the other fragments of Princess Nixlix. Our plans, our weaknesses, our locations - all of it bleeds through to our enemies."

"Is this true?" Remicra asked Cedez.

The foxgirl gave a tiny nod, her fluffy ears drooping even further.

The dragon smith frowned.