The first time they got to a large rocky outcropping that blocked the path down the mountain, the procession of people stopped.

“Well, that’s a problem.” One of the dwarves muttered, “Do we have to go around? There’s no way we’re getting the cart down that.”

“No, it’s fine.” Darten walked over and started making a portion of the area into a ramp just wide enough for the cart.

The dwarves stared in appreciation. “A Stone Mage?” Leya asked excitedly.

“Earth Mage, actually,” Darten corrected her, “But right now, I’m using Earth Manipulation.”

“Oh, what’s it like? My Uncle is actually a Stone Mage, and I’ve been wondering about a few things…” She walked over and started chatting with him as he smoothed out the rock.

Kay grabbed Eleniah’s arm and dragged her off to the side as they waited.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“Are we far enough away?” Kay wondered as he looked back at the group.

Eleniah glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah, they shouldn’t be able to hear us from here.”

“Okay.” Kay took a breath, “What should I be keeping a secret from them? From anyone? The fact that I’m an Outworlder keeps getting brought up to diffuse situations I put us in, and Murunel keeps coming up no matter what happens. I feel like I’m letting things out again, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Kay, calm down.” She grasped both his arms and squeezed gently. “You being an Outworlder shouldn’t be a secret. It’s not that big a deal, and you’re right; it’s going to come up because you don’t know things or do know things or something else we’re never going to see coming. Don’t worry about that. And don’t worry about people finding out about Murunel. When she couldn’t talk to us, it was fine to let her sleep and hide her away since she couldn’t interact with people. But now that she can talk, it would be horrible of us to keep her from having as much of a life as possible until we can get her out.”

“Thanks!” Murunel said quietly from around Kay’s neck. “I was keeping quiet just in case, but I’d rather talk to people.”

“Alright.” He sighed and looked down with a worried expression.

“What’s wrong? Why do you think we need to keep her secret?” Eleniah asked him.

“I’m worried that someone is going to try, or succeed at, kidnapping her before we could get her out.” He looked down into his armor, “Or, get you out, sorry, it’s rude to talk like you aren’t here.”

“Thanks! And awe! You’re so nice! But no one is going to try and take me away.” Murunel replied.

“Why not?”

“There’s no benefit to anyone to take me. I’m just one dragon who can’t do anything right now. It wouldn’t be worth fighting you guys to take me. The only people who might want me are those Nelamians that trapped me in the first place, and I don’t think they even know I went missing.”

Kay looked at her for a few more moments, then nodded. “That makes sense. Okay, cool. Don’t have to worry about that.”

“Nope! But it’s really sweet that you were!”

“Thanks.” He looked back at Eleniah. “So the only thing I need to keep secret is that one thing.”

“Right.” She glanced back at the group, which was still watching Darten manipulate the stone and dirt. “And even then, not forever. Like I’ve said, it has to come out eventually.”

“When do you think that will happen?”

She pointed back over her shoulder, “If this keeps going the way it is? As soon as we have enough trustworthy people to back you up regularly. Otherwise, tier five will be the earliest I’d be comfortable it getting out.”

Kay nodded. “Good. Having a goal makes it a little easier for me to organize it.” He stared down into the valley. “Do you think that this is going to end up the way I think it is?”

“What are you thinking?” Eleniah asked with a smirk.

He glowered at her. “Randomly growing a settlement of some kind. A village, probably.”

She nodded. “It could. It wouldn’t be the first or the last time that a group of random people settled down together. Having similar or synergistic purposes is very unifying.” She turned and leaned her should against his. “Don’t worry about it too much. If it happens, it happens.”

“I feel like I’m not getting much of a choice. And that I’m not ready.”

She looked up at him with a quirked eyebrow. “Of course, you have a choice. Say the word, and we leave, any direction you want.”

He grunted. “I feel like that might be the wrong thing to do.”

“That’s the thing,” She said with a smile, “Sticking to your principles is always a choice. It doesn’t mean it’s always an easy choice or a happy one, but it’s always a choice.”

Darten straightened up and waved over at them. Eleniah waved back and started walking over. She slowly stopped a few steps later and looked over her shoulder at Kay.

Kay frowned at her expression. “What?”

She looked at him silently for a moment. “Hey, Meten?”

“Yeah?”

“Take them to camp, would you?” She pointed down the mountain without looking away from Kay. “We’ll catch up.”

“Alright!” He called back quickly. “We’ll see you in a bit!” He gestured at the group to follow and started walking.

A few of the dwarves looked back at them wonderingly, but they all started down to the valley again.

“Eleniah?”

She opened her mouth to say something, then paused and shut it. She frowned and started to talk again, then stopped a second time. She went on like that for a few more seconds, making various expressions as she tried to figure out what to say.

“Is everything okay?” Kay asked, stepping closer.

She huffed and shook her head. She stepped in and hugged Kay.

He straightened up, a little startled, then hugged her back. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. I just realized I was leaving things out again.”

“Okay. Tell me, then.”

“I’ve been pretty lonely for a while.”

“I noticed.”

She poked him in the ribs, and he chuckled as he winced. She stepped back and looked him in the eyes. “After I left my cousin, I traveled a lot and made friends, even lovers few times. But for one reason or another, we always split up eventually, and I kept going. It got lonely, meeting people and then leaving them.”

“You’re interested in starting a place with people,” Kay predicted what she was going to say.

“Don’t do that!” She scowled at him, “I mean, yes, that’s part of what I wanted to say, but not all of it. Let me finish!”

“Sorry.”

They both heard Murunel laughing quietly. Kay pulled on the necklace so that she was sitting outside his shirt and could see.

“Don’t you interrupt either.” Eleniah scolded. “You’re part of the inner circle, so you get to hear all the secrets, but let me finish.”

“Okay!”

“There’s an inner circle now?”

Eleniah rolled her eyes. “Don’t get caught up in the unimportant things right now!” She huffed and looked off, “Where was I? Right. I got lonely. Then I met you and started teaching you. And I realized that if I was lonely, I could just make a partner.”

Kay’s brows furrowed. “What?”

“I could make a partner. Find someone to be with me and train them to keep up.” She paced a few steps away. “So I started with you since you were right there. I said I’d train you up and make you into someone that could be with me.” She spun around the face him again. “But you aren’t stuck with me! And you aren’t stuck with doing this,” She gestured towards where the group had left, “Whatever it ends up being. You can go off on your own, or we can leave together. None of them actually need you to do anything, so it shouldn’t feel like you’re breaking your principles to help them or something. Just because you could make things easier for them doesn’t mean they need you. And you aren’t required to be with me either, no matter what I actually want. You can go off and do your own thing, or find something that-”

“Wait.” Kay held up a hand and cut her off. “Go back to the ‘make a partner’ thing. You said, ‘Find someone and train them’. You don’t mean: find someone and mold them to want to travel or be with you, right?”

“No!” She shook her head violently. “I mean find someone, like you, that would want to be my partner, and then get the strong enough to stand next to me, like with you. You need me to protect me right now because you’re weaker and don’t know as much as you need to. But in the not so far off future, you’re going to be strong enough to stand on your own. And I’m hoping that you’ll want to stay with me then.” She trailed off into a mutter at the last part.

Kay grinned at her embarrassed expression. “You need to think of a better way of saying that than ‘make a partner’. ’Cause saying it like that sounds a little predatory.”

“Huh?”

“It kinda sounded like you were saying you’d find someone with potential and then groom them into a partner, like a creep!” Murunel called out.

“What!?” Eleniah’s face paled. “No! I was saying-”

“You want to make a friend and make sure your friend is an equal. Instead of finding people that are already equal to you and then trying to make friends with you.” Kay started laughing. “So basically, you’re a little bit awkward and not amazing at making friends, and you decided to change up your approach at making friends and called it the most suspicious sounding thing.” He threw back his head and laughed harder.

“Don’t laugh at me!”

He stepped forward and wrapped her up in a hug. “Don’t worry about it.” He gave her a squeeze. “I’m definitely your friend by now. And I’m happy you’re working with me to make me equal to you.”

“Okay.” She frowned up at him, a little bit of a pout on her face. “I’m not awkward, though, and I’m not bad at making friends.”

“Inexperienced at making close friends that would want to stay with you when things happen that might split up less close friends?”

She thought about that for a second. “I’ll accept that.”

“Good.” He let go of her and stepped back. “I’m a close friend that wants to stick with you, so if I do decide that I’m done with that,” He gestured into the valley, “I’ll talk to you about it, and we’ll make a decision together.”

She smiled. “Good. And thanks.” She grabbed his hand and started walking. “Although, I do have to say unless you’re going with the hermit route, starting a settlement in the wilderness is a pretty good way to build a support base for yourself as a Class Line Progenitor.”

“We don’t know if that’s going to happen. And we’d have to get more out of Meten and Darten about their story if we’re going to trust them like that.”

She grinned at him.

“Oh, shut up.”