Luna

  I was irritated that Krahinn attempted to destroy my binoculars; I did manage to see that he was willing to sit next to Fresri before he attempted to destroy my binoculars. Well, not next to, a measured distance from. I was tempted to bust them back out to spy on my quarry, but Krahinn had nine eyes to work with on top of his . Or someone else that was highly skilled with and willing to help me with such an endeavor. While I mulled over my next move, I noticed Nautilus and Helga were giving me stares with raised eyebrows, like they were judging me for something.

  “What?” I checked, not getting what the stares were for.

  “Why ya go’ binocu’ars lass?” Nautilus inquired. Her face was twitching wildly for some reason.

  “For when I need to look long distances when Nil isn’t around.” I explained, not grasping the confusion.

  “So, you just happened to be carrying them?” Helga probed while also looking like she was fighting for her life.

  “They are helpful. With all the stuff that happens around here being able to see far away without using or is useful. Why do you both look so amused?” I answered them while the two looked ready to collapse from laughter.

  “You really like to meddle.” Helga replied while clearly choking back how hard she wanted to laugh.

  “What do the binoculars have to do with that?” I pressed, not grasping why this was so funny.

  “K’ahinn, I need ya t’ be wit’ dis jay so I can win a wa’er. Don’ worry, th’ bino’ulars are f’ lon’ distance obser’ation so I don’ ruin th’ mood.” Nautilus teased me. Oh, that's what they were laughing at.

  “I did not get the binoculars to spy on Krahinn!” I defended myself while trying not to feel too embarrassed.

  “Look how crimson you got!” Helga added on, laughing maniacally. This was not that funny!

  “The binoculars are not for spying on people or their relationships!” I tried to convince them, but from how hard Nautilus and Helga were laughing I knew neither were going to drop their current narrative.

  “D’ ya wan’ us t’ give ya distance? So ya can look a’ us from ya preferred range?” Nautilus continued. I felt crimson through my ears now.

  “No! That is not a hobby nor habit of mine!” I squeaked, knowing they were far from done.

  “Sure. Sure. You simply had binoculars at the ready to whip out and observe Fresri and Krahinn from a distance the instant the opportunity arose.” Helga said nonchalantly, nodding along at me. How she managed to finish the sentence with how hard she was laughing was impressive.

  “You are misconstruing events!” I snapped at her desperately.

  “Jus’ ya safe’y binocu’ars. Fo’ makin’ sure ya meddlin’ is workin’.” Nautilus ‘defended’ me.

  “That is not what they are for!” I shot back feeling immensely crimson.

  “We believe you.” Helga told me with fake sincerity.

  “Why are you both like this?” I whined, wanting this conversation to change.

  “Ya meddl’d once fo’ a bet and now ya at it again, bette’ pre’ared dis time. Twice i’ a pattern.” Nautilus replied in a stern voice before laughing some more.

  “I was not preparing in advance for this!” I deflected. I noticed the binoculars glowed a bit in my bag. Why were they glowing? Even Nautilus and Helga looked baffled by the fact my bag glowed for a brief moment.

  “What in your bag is glowing?” Helga checked, looking at me with concern. I immediately took the binoculars from my bag which were still glowing as I carefully set them down before taking several rapid steps away.

  “I have no idea.” I admitted. Nautilus looked ready to smite them on principle.

  Dha yelled at me mentally.

  “Wait!” I stopped Nautilus, who was about ready to disintegrate the binoculars.

  I probed, not grasping how I was hearing Dha without being in a blank space.

  Dha explained to me.

  “Smite them.” I directed Nautilus while my face felt red beyond words.

  Dha cackled as I felt him vanish. The binoculars effortlessly shrugged off Nautilus punch. No. no. no. no. no. no. no. I was struggling to fight the urge to bury my head in the sand. Nautilus looked baffled at the apparently indestructible binoculars. I grabbed them and chucked them in the lake.

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  “What was that?” Helga cooed, realizing that there was more to it.

  “Nothing!” I squeaked with a voice that resembled rat squeaks. The binoculars launched out of the lake, landing in front of me completely dry.

  “You’ve got to be forling kidding me.” I mumbled, seeing them laying there, taunting me.

  “Why ya binocu’ars su’enly so, magi’al?” Nautilus inquired, sounding seconds from laughing uncontrollably some more.

  “NO. REASON.” I spat at her.

  “Wait, did Lord Dha give them a few ?” Helga realized. My eyes were twitching violently while I tried to figure out how to phrase my defense.

  “I have not heard him confirm it.” I informed them. I did not want to be the owner of binoculars. I did not want to be the owner of binoculars.

  “Hol’ on.” Nautilus chimed, picking them up and investigating them a little. She flipped them around, pointing something out to Helga before the two collapsed to the ground from how hard they were laughing. I scooped up the binoculars, seeing there were inscribed in them that I definitely didn’t put there. I tucked them in my bag, trying to keep my face as unreactive as possible.

  “Dha did! He inscribed to protect them for you!” Helga laughed, sounding like she was struggling to breathe.

  I stood there, unable to do anything to stop the two of them from laughing uncontrollably at me. My face felt crimson all the way through my ears. Why? Why did Dha decide that it was necessary to make sure the binoculars were hard to dispose of? They just, happened to be useful for seeing how things were going between Krahinn and Fresri. Nautilus and Helga were coughing and choking from how hard they were laughing, taking large gasps of air. Both of them had tears rolling down their faces from just how much they were laughing.

  “Can you two stop?” I requested. The two struggled for a few more moments to compose themselves.

  “Fine.” Helga agreed to my immense relief. Nautilus gave Helga massive puppy eyes because she clearly wanted to keep going.

  “Dear, why ya con’ede s’ ea’ily?” Nautilus whined at her.

  “Because we are about to make Luna cry if we keep going. It is funny, but this is now going into bullying territory.” Helga replied. Nautilus sighed and shrugged, not wanting to argue further.

  “Do you know what could have possibly possessed Krahinn to let Fresri stay near him?” I asked the two of them.

  “We told you that we wouldn’t help you.” Helga shot back with zero hesitation.

  “I’m not asking for help, I am asking if either of you have the faintest clue why Krahinn is not instantly folding someone who annoyed him in a ball and tossing them away.” I tried, hoping to persuade the two of them.

  “No. Help.” Helga insisted with a stern glare.

  “Hol’ on, we may wan’ t’ know wh’ caused it.” Nautilus pointed out. Helga stared at her, clearly told her something mentally, and then back at me.

  “Ya kno’, ya righ’. No helpin’.” Nautilus agreed.

  “I get it.” I conceded, knowing the two weren’t budging.

  “Now, we want some couple time, so go do whatever your plot is elsewhere please.” Helga told me.

  “No problem.” I stated in a deadpan, walking back towards the castle.

  What could have possibly possessed Krahinn? From the brief glimpse I got, his face was still the normal scowl, but he let Fresri within a specified distance. I definitely did not convince Krahinn to. Did Fresri somehow manage to figure out some magical combination of words that swayed Krahinn? Krahinn might’ve honestly heard squawking sounds when Fresri talked so that was undeniably not the answer. Then who could’ve persuaded Krahinn? I nearly slapped myself. Nez. What could have possibly caused Nez to provide some unexpected help? I would definitely take it, but that was a pleasant surprise.

  I made my way to Nil’s room, mulling over how to move forward. Krahinn having walls higher than mountains around himself made this difficult. He did me a massive favor for some reason. It didn’t take long to walk up the stairs, reach Nil’s floor, and go to his room. Nil looked exhausted still, but his face lit up when he saw me. I did not imagine Nil was going to be his normal, more energetic self for a long while. His eyes still possessed that immense presence to them that I was still adjusting to; something had undeniably changed within Nil from the events that transpired.

  “How are you doing?” I asked him while I sat next to his bed. By his begging eyes I knew he wanted to lean on me.

  “Tired. Drained.” Nil answered as he still looked at me.

  “Hope you start feeling better soon.” I comforted Nil, reaching out and stroking his hair.

  “I did think what… what was his name… fresh wanted was surprising.” Nil replied. I chuckled, gently caressing his face as he was not great with names.

  “His name is Fresri. I thought it was something amusing.” I agreed while Nil leaning into my hand.

  “Is wanting to date someone amusing? Krahinn being someone’s type is surprising, but with enough chances it was bound to happen. Persisting onto Tenebrae was quite the effort, but I’m not sure it’s funny.” Nil told me quite slowly. My mind flashed to that painful memory of his.

  “You’re right. It is not something to find amusing, but rather surprising.” I admitted, continuing to stroke Nil’s hair.

  “So, what is your plan?” Nil inquired. It was hard to read his face due to how tired he was to clue me in on what Nil was exactly referring to.

  “Can you clarify?” I asked. Nil smiled lightly at me, enjoying me petting his head.

  “You have the planning glint in your eyes.” Nil told me. Huh, I guess Nil did pick up on things like that.

  “How severed is Krahinn currently? It is important that he does not overhear.” I probed, moving my hand to caress Nil’s face a bit more. He looked delighted by that.

  “Quite. You should be fine.” Nil answered. I felt his shift a bit, which was likely to make sure Krahinn didn’t snoop somehow.

  “So, Dha offered me an if I could somehow get Krahinn to date Fresri. From here, my plan is to somehow help the two become an official couple which is a challenge given Krahinn is Krahinn. My plan has been extensively thought out for a grand total of roughly thirty minutes.” I explained to Nil.

  “You have put a lot of effort into it I see.” Nil teased me. I fought the urge to poke my dork.

  “I have; it has been extensively planned. Now I need to wait for it to slowly unfold.” I played along; Nil was smiling widely at me.

  “Did you need my assistance for any of these parts?” Nil asked while he slowly moved towards me.

  “Not at the moment. You just focus on recovering.” I told him. He was so supportive, but unfortunately he was not able to help me much.

  “Okay. Just let me know if you want me to help.” Nil replied, resting more on my hand.

  “I will. You can rest; you can relax.” I assured him, enjoying the peace and quiet with Nil.