The new Coreless was odd.

It wasn’t just in the way that the other Coreless looked at him, as if hanging on his every unintelligible word. It wasn’t just in the way that he felt far more dangerous than the others, his every muscle tensed as if ready to burst into motion at a moment’s notice.

It was in the way that he looked at me. Even as they talked, even when I carefully slithered my way across the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s shoulders, it felt as if his eyes never left me. It was an odd feeling, that stare.

It wasn’t one that I enjoyed.

I pulled myself in closer, tucking my body closer to the skin-flesh of my Coreless follower’s throat. If he wanted to attack, he would have to risk injuring her.

The-female-who-was-not-Needle tilted her head towards me, honored by my faith in her ability to take a blow for me.

“Awww, you’re so cute,” she hissed. I hissed back. She moved to guard me further with one of her giant hands, covering my head-scales from the Staring One’s view and giving them a quick scratch. Finally, she was proving useful.

Even the Coreless could learn. Eventually.

The gathered Coreless continued to jabber at one another, having long retired to a strange section of the nest. It was a small room, separated from the rest of the nest by another of the ridiculous moving-walls that they seemed to enjoy so much. Inside, there was a slab of darkwood held up by thin legs of stone and surrounded by other creations that I recognized from the Temple of Feel-Good-Water.

I had to admit, despite the misplaced trust that they placed in some of their creations - particularly the useless moving-walls - the Coreless did have some inventions that I could see a use for. These were one of them. A place to sit, elevated above the floor!

It was almost like a Core’s pedestal, in a way, and I very much wanted one for myself. That the Coreless would think they deserved pedestals of their own was off-putting, but I was willing to forgive that for now.

As the Coreless sat down in a circle around the darkwood slab, I moved away from my perch on the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s neck, twining myself around the high-backed edge of the fake-pedestal and - coincidentally - placing more space between myself and the Staring One.

“While it is good to see that you have all made it back safely, I would appreciate reporting back before any future celebrations.” The Staring One made his noises at my Coreless, causing them to shrink back into themselves. I hissed. Those were my Coreless he was frightening.

The motion caught his attention, and he pointed a finger at me. “Now, who would like to explain that to me?”

“Well -”

“You see -”

“Valera - “

“It’s a -”

All of my Coreless began to speak up at once, and were immediately silenced as the Staring One raised his hand.

“I really don’t need to hear from all of you at once. Seeing as Doran appears to be the only one in full possession of his faculties at the moment, why don’t I have him explain?”

As the Unrepentant One began to jabber back, I twined myself a little more securely around the back of the fake-pedestal and prepared for a fight. Already, I was feeling as if things were going poorly; the way that the Staring One, well, stared was making me extremely uncomfortable. The other Coreless that we had met had stared as well, but they hadn’t possessed the same aura of danger.

Though I wasn’t sure if I could win if he attacked, I wasn’t prepared to make it easy. Even now, defeating a Coreless - at least, without extreme difficulty or injury - might have been out of my reach. Defeating this one was...something else.

I was almost tempted to put the extra trait points that I had received recently into [Poisonous Blood], just to make sure I could make him regret it when he made me bleed. If, I reminded myself. So far, he hadn’t attacked.

He had only stared.

Menacingly.

I gathered my courage, raising my head from behind the shelter of the-female-who-was-not-Needle’s shoulder and staring back. His eyes turned to meet mine, and I ducked away, beating a tactical retreat.

I’ll get him next time, I thought.

The Unrepentant One continued to jabber on, unaware of the battle of titanic wills that was being waged as he spoke. Despite their praiseworthy decision to follow the Great Core, my Coreless had a ways to go in expanding their intelligence and observation skills.

They would learn. Hopefully.

“...and then we happened to find it again fighting a colony of spiders. Valera wanted to keep it because she thought it was cute -”

“And it is!”

“-but she also pointed out that it would be a potential way to locate the Core that had created the Infernal Cyclops we encountered. That turned out to be the correct choice, because it actually worked.”

The Staring One opened his mouth, causing my Coreless to fall silent. “Did you manage to capture the Core, then?”

Suddenly, all of my Coreless turned away, unwilling to meet the eyes of the Staring One. I felt a chill invade my scale-flesh, a sudden sense of danger that pressed against my senses.

“...No, sir. The snake ate it.”

The danger peaked.

“Wait, wait, wait!” The-female-who-was-not-Needle bravely shouted, holding her arms up to defend me from the Staring One. I hissed in approval, recognizing her desire to die in my defense. Slowly, I began to untwine from the fake-pedestal’s back, moving almost imperceptibly in another tactical retreat. “Doran, you skipped the important part!”

The chill disappeared, the sense of danger fading with it. I froze, waiting to see if her sacrifice succeeded in defeating the Staring One’s ire. She launched into a rapid-fire series of jabbers and hand motions.

“...wouldn’t have been able to reach the Core anyway, and the little guy turned out to be more useful than the Core would have been.”

I peeked back over my Coreless’ shoulder, catching the Staring One’s eyes again. This time, they didn’t feel quite as dangerous. It was a small change, but enough that I was able to hold myself steady.

I gave him a brave, challenging hiss.

He stared.

I blasted his eyes with a flash of light, forcing him to flinch back for a moment. He shouted, raising himself from his fake-pedestal and clenching his hand into a fist. My Coreless shouted as well, the-female-who-was-not-Needle shielding me from view with her hand again. When it was removed, the Staring One was sitting down again. Staring again.

But I had won, we both knew.

I hissed with delight, exulting in my small victory.

“Sorry, sir. I’m sure he won’t do that again,” the-female-who-was-not-Needle jabbered.

The Staring One grumbled, ashamed by his loss. “See that he doesn’t. He could blind someone like that, you know.”

“I know, I’m sorry. He can be a little surly sometimes, but he did save us again and again. I’m sure that you of all people know how dangerous being a Core Seeker is, and how much of a game-changer the protection of a creature that can see the future could be.”

“I do. You’ll have me on your side, but you’ll have to convince the Council of that, as well. He acts closer to a tamed monster than I’d expect, but there’s a clear difference between something like Webweavers and...that. The Council isn’t going to like having something so dangerous around.”

The Unrepentant One responded this time. “We know. I’ll admit that I’m not a fan of the little monster either, but the idea does have some merit. There’s no real way to prove that we would have died in there without it, but I’m sure that we would. We were trapped and unprepared. A bigger issue is using it to actually gather more Cores, though. If we just want to clear out the ones around Orken out of a concern for safety, that’s one thing. It’s another to prevent it from eating the Cores if it comes close.”

“I see...Well, I may have some ideas on that.”