“So, why are you so curious about the accommodations?” I asked Fresri, knowing he was likely not going to answer me on the just yet.

  “I need to eat and sleep. I’m not Krahinn who can hop between on a whim.” Fresri answered. I guess basing all on Krahinn was wildly unfair, especially given his .

  “How do non possessing hop between ?” I probed, kind of curious about how that worked.

  “Eh… two main methods. The first is there is a inscription you can use to hop between that will create a

  for you. The second is a

  , which is a magical stone with the imbued in it to convert your into casting

  . The last resort is someone with to open the

  for you, but for obvious reasons that is not preferred.” Fresri explained to me.

  “Then what is stopping you from inscribing the ?” I inquired. The stuff to inscribe the should be available on Tenebrae.

  “I don’t have any way of obtaining the materials for inscribing the . Well, I do have way.” Fresri admitted with a bit of a shrug.

  “Which you don’t want to do while pursuing Krahinn.” I replied, making sure I understood what he was implying.

  “Correct. I’m currently kind of stuck as a result.” Fresri confirmed for me.

  “Just a little bit.” I agreed which Fresri nodded to.

  “I still don’t know if I’d be a , but you are an interesting kid.” Fresri mused as he shifted on the couch.

  “No rush on the front. I mean, a timetable so we know to move on, but not a do or die rush.” I assured Fresri which caused him to narrow his eyes at me.

  “What is your angle? You are awfully young to be such a schemer.” Fresri probed, sounding immensely suspicious.

  “I’m not a complete child.” I deflected. Fresri shifted so he looked directly at me with his legs kicking in the air as he laid across the couch.

  “You are comparatively a child.” Fresri pointed out. I wanted to argue the point but it was hard when the being making the claim was centuries years old.

  “Why does everyone assume I have an angle?” I inquired innocently instead.

  “I cannot fathom why you would support me otherwise. Unless it is some odd spite move to Krahinn, but I do not think someone as weak as you would directly taunt Krahinn.” Fresri quipped. I let out an annoyed sigh.

  “I am not that weak.” I grumbled at him.

  “I mean, for your age you’re not weak. Compared to Krahinn? I’d bet on a gnat against a dragon having better odds than you against Krahinn.” Fresri taunted me with a smirk.

  “I do not need to be reminded over and over of that fact.” I spat at Fresri. Fresri smiled back at me, seeming unbothered by my annoyance.

  “Does he gloat about it a lot?” Fresri asked.

  “What is it worth to you?” I checked as a smile slowly stretched across my face.

  “What do you mean?” Fresri probed, not grasping my point. He seemed intrigued by my sudden enthusiasm.

  “I want some insight, you want Krahinn information.” I clarified for him hoping I wouldn’t need to spell it out more.

  “If I give you information and insight on and you’ll give me answers on Krahinn.” Fresri realized, sounding like he was game for the exchange.

  “Finally put it together.” I teased him.

  “But how much Krahinn based information do you have?” Fresri inquired with a smirk.

  “More than you. He’s been here for years.” I pointed out to him.

  “Hmmmm. Fun. Now what would I want to know?” Fresri mused, bobbing his tail feathers a bit.

  “That’s for you to think of.” I replied. Fresri clearly thought of something quite quickly.

  “How do we determine if the questions are equivalent?” Fresri probed, which was a fair question.

  “Easy, medium, hard? Person proposes the question and the person with the answer states how difficult the question is and the proposer gives the equivalent.” I suggested. I could have phrased that better. He mulled it over for a few seconds.

  “Fair enough. Any topic or topics I should avoid?” Fresri asked once he agreed to the terms.

  “Hard because he gets angry at people even informing others about the answer to that. It is an immensely sore spot of his.” I informed Fresri. Fresri nodded, clearly wanting the answer.

  “Difficult piece of information regarding . Hmmm, I was hoping it’d be easy, so I’m guessing he gets immensely temperamental for even approaching the subject.” Fresri whined, sounding annoyed it was a difficult question. Unfortunately for you Fresri, with Krahinn, there is only going to be easy and hard with that finicky .

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “What about if someone is telling the truth with ?” I checked, seeing if that was difficult.

  “No, that’s really easy.” Fresri admitted in annoyance.

  “You asked for likely the touchiest, most difficult part of Krahinn to start.” I taunted him. Fresri smiled a bit more, seeming amused by that fact.

  “You can forcefully link yourself to someone and share pain, senses, and thoughts. If you practice it enough, you can reflect wounds from you to them without theirs being reflected back on you.” Fresri informed me.

  “Can you show me?” I requested, wondering how on Tenebrae that worked.

  “Ugggghhh, I guess that’s fair.” Fresri whined. In an instant, I felt this odd sensation. Fresri was seriously quick at casting ; he took his finger and jabbed it into his hand, and I immediately felt it at the same spot on my hand. I tried it back and Fresri laughed.

  “That is such a useful .” I told him, almost in awe. That was possible?

  “Now answer my question.” Fresri demanded. I needed to figure out how he did that; envisioning the effect was the first step thankfully.

  “Family. Do not ever

  “Any other avoid subjects?” Fresri probed. I mulled it over, trying to think of anything else.

  “Easy.” I replied which made him smile.

  “Uh, here.” Fresri told me, as I felt the sense link again and could see from Fresri’s eyes. He used to look at me similar to where I saw I was a blank gray.

  “What is this?” I inquired, seeing myself from his perspective was quite odd.

  “Tell a truth or lie.” Fresri directed me. Oh, that's what he was showing me.

  “Nil is a dork.” I tried, seeing myself flash white.

  “That is a truth.” Fresri chuckled. He undid the sense link, and I tried mimicking the . I could see Fresri as plain gray.

  “Can you say a truth or lie?” I requested. Fresri mulled over what to say.

  “Krahinn is hot.” Fresri told me as he flashed white.

  “For other subjects to avoid, none immediately come to mind. Krahinn is generally cranky and something that might annoying him in the moment, but nothing that’ll set him off to the same degree. Maybe the Void King, but Krahinn is more determined to kill him than anything.” I explained to Fresri.

  “Interesting. Noted for later.” Fresri cooed at me.

  “I kind of want more information but I am realizing I was not as inventive as I could be. I am not sure what to ask about.” I admitted to Fresri, racking my brain for things to ask.

  “ is quite rare; it is the mental variant of that not many have. I guess this place has not had a full revolution just yet.” Fresri elaborated, still shifting on the couch as he looked at me with curiosity.

  “You are in the Empire of Speranza, in the of Tenebrae.” I informed Fresri. He seemed vastly less interested in that information.

  “Also noted. How attached is Krahinn to his ?” Fresri asked. What was he trying to determine?

  “Easy.” I stated, wondering what Fresri could show me next.

  “You can create threads of and stack multiple on them to transmit the effects all at once.” Fresri added on. That sounded quite useful, but that required me to me more practiced with .

  “From what I can tell, Krahinn is quite attached to Nil even if he won’t admit it.” I said which earned a light chuckle from Fresri.

  “So, Krahinn tends to not admit when he likes something. Fun, fun.” Fresri chimed happily. Fresri really only heard what he wanted to hear.

  Before our conversation went further, there was a knock on the door followed by Nez walking in. No idea what possessed Nez to do it, nor how he managed it, but I owed him so much for it. Fresri smiled and waved at Nez, who waved politely back. I used as subtly as I could on Nez, seeing how much he was struggling, seeing a swirl of black and blue. How was he holding together so well? Why was he trying to act like it was all fine?

  “It is time for dinner. And Luna, while I appreciate your concern, you are not as subtle as you believe.” Nez announced to us.

  “Um… am I okay to join?” Fresri checked awkwardly.

  “You’ll be fine. Just, expect some reactions between pursuing Krahinn and potentially being Luna’s .” Nez warned him. Fresri nodded along like he expected that.

  “That’s fine.” Fresri shrugged, not seeming overly bothered by that information.

  We made our way to the dining room, where Fresri excitedly took a seat next to Krahinn who glared at him. Nil was leaned against his chair with an expression like he was barely awake at the moment. Those that had not met Fresri yet had many complicated expressions, especially seeing him fawn over and smile at Krahinn. Dad looked at the new , then at me with an expression like he wanted an explanation yesterday. Completely fair needing to explain Fresri. Nautilus and Helga were looking between Fresri, Krahinn, and I with smirks. Nil let out a little sigh sound next to me, clearly wanting to relax more.

  “Can someone please inform me who this new is?” Dad requested almost immediately.

  “I’m Fresri!” Fresri answered happily, still smiling directly at Krahinn.

  “Krahinn, is this, uh, a potential for Luna?” Dad inquired with a skeptical expression. Krahinn looked at Fresri, sighed, and then looked at my dad.

  “Pest here is maybe a for Luna, despite not being interested in being a , and was argued to be allowed to stay before knowing he possessed .” Krahinn explained, shooting stares between Nez and me, most of which was aimed at me.

  “Pest?” Empress Senna asked, catching onto Krahinn’s disdain for Fresri.

  “A pet name, very charming.” Fresri defended Krahinn. The looks as the realization Fresri truly was pursuing Krahinn began clicking on everyone's face.

  “Luna, did you somehow find another mentor figure who is, how to phrase this nicely, what’s the right word?” Dad began, trying to figure out how to articulate what he was thinking.

  “Easy going?” Fresri suggested to finish the sentence.

  “I ain’ ea’y, I’m gene’ous and also commi’ed to Helga.” Nautilus defended herself with a huff.

  “We will go with easy going.” Dad agreed, looking between us.

  “I am not easy; I am single and occasionally go for a sugar daddy.” Fresri replied without losing his smile towards Krahinn.

  “Which I am not.” Krahinn growled at him.

  “I know.” Fresri quipped without hesitation.

  Dad inquired mentally. I looked at him, seeing him fighting to keep his face under control.

  I explained to him. Dad just let out a sigh as dinner was about to start.