Stella poked her head out of Vur’s snout. Wind blew past her face, causing her hair to wave in the wind. She turned around and waved. Vur’s golden slit eyes narrowed and focused on Stella. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Nothing really,” Stella said and glanced at the Recordkeeper, who was sitting on Vur’s head. “I was just wondering if it was a good idea to leave Tafel alone with the cursed dragons.”

Vur blinked. “She’s not alone,” he said. “The phoenixes are with her, and Ramon and Leila aren’t cursed dragons.”

Stella frowned. “That’s not what I meant,” she said. She scratched her head. “I mean, is it okay for you to travel around with the Recordkeeper by yourself?”

Vur furrowed his brow. “I’m not by myself,” he said. “You’re here.” He rolled his eyes up to glance at the Recordkeeper. After staring at her for a bit, he rolled his eyes back down. “Even if I were alone, I could still easily beat her. She can’t do anything to me.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Stella said again. She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind. I think I was thinking too much.” She snapped her fingers at the Recordkeeper, causing the winged woman to tilt her neck downwards.

“Snapping is a rude way of attracting someone’s attention,” the Recordkeeper said. “If you want me to pay attention to you, call my name or wave at me.” When she was done speaking, the Recordkeeper raised her head and stared at the clouds in sky.

Stella sighed before placing her hands on her hips. “Recordkeeper.”

The Recordkeeper lowered her head again and nodded at Stella. “Yes?”

“You know things, right?” Stella asked. “What’s a way to make a genie grow faster after he’s granted someone a wish? Is there like a special water or some type of soil that can speed up the process?”

The Recordkeeper stroked her chin and furrowed her eyebrow. “Let me think.”

“Do you miss Mervin?” Vur asked and tilted his head, causing the Recordkeeper to shriek. She flapped her wings and clutched onto Vur’s scales to prevent herself from falling off. Vur righted his head and continued staring at Stella, pretending as if he hadn’t almost lost his passenger.

Stella’s face flushed red, and she glared at Vur. “I don’t miss him,” she said. “I was just wondering, jeez.” She dipped back inside of Vur’s snout, hiding from view. After a minute, a portion of her head poked back out—just enough for her mouth to be exposed. “Well? Is there a way?”

The Recordkeeper exhaled. “There’s a way,” she said. “Genies grow faster if the soil they’re planted in is soaked in armadillo urine.”

Stella blinked, and her eyes rolled down to observe Vur’s expression. “Let’s say, uh, there’s a genie planted in Vur’s soul,” she said. “Do you think armadillo urine will still work?”

“Sure,” the Recordkeeper said. “As long as you find a way for an armadillo to urinate inside of Vur’s soul, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. As for how you’ll manage to do that, there’s no records about it. Vur’s soul is a huge anomaly, and you’re an expert in that field compared to me.”

Stella’s arm rose out of Vur’s scale to scratch her head. “So, Vur, what are your thoughts on—”

“I’m not drinking armadillo pee,” Vur said, glaring at Stella.

The fairy queen coughed twice. “That’s not what I was going to ask,” she said. “I was going to ask if you wanted to eat an armadillo. Speaking of which, what’s an armadillo? Where do they live?”

“They used to be widespread throughout the western continent,” the Recordkeeper said. “But after it was discovered that eating their flesh could improve one’s health and strength, they were hunted to near extinction. You can search the western continent for them, but honestly, I doubt you’ll have any luck.” A lightbulb appeared over the Recordkeeper’s head. “Although, there is an auction being held soon where rich people meet to buy and sell things but mostly to make connections and stroke their own egos.”

“An auction?” Stella asked. She glanced at Vur. “Do you have any money? Let’s go ask Lindyss.”

Vur snorted. “Deedee can grow money out of the ground,” he said. “We don’t need to bother Auntie.”

“That’s not exactly what I do…,” Diamant said from the runes on Vur’s leg. Unfortunately, he was too far away to be heard.

***

Lulu frowned and rolled her eyes up to look at Lindyss. “Is this really necessary?” the holy dragon asked. There was a large chunk of ice placed in the middle of her forehead, and Lindyss was sitting on top of it.

“It’s absolutely necessary,” Lindyss said. “I don’t want to be tainted by whatever you’ve got going on.”

Lulu snorted. “I already stopped the spreading with my holy magic,” she said. “My head is cold.”

“Don’t give me that nonsense excuse. You live in a frozen wasteland,” Lindyss said. “Even if you say whatever you have isn’t spreading anymore, I’m not going to risk it. What if I turn green as well? I have a lot of outfits, but none of them are meant to be worn by a green person.”

“I really do get cold!” Lulu said. “Our home might be located in a frozen wasteland, but it’s warm on the inside! You’ve been there. Is my health really less important than your fashion?”

“Absolutely,” Lindyss said. “Under normal circumstances, I’d prioritize your health, but you brought this upon yourself. Who told you to mess with things that have obvious warning signs around them? If something is sealed, don’t you think you should leave it sealed?”

“I was curious!”

“You know what they say about curiosity.”

“That great discoveries have been made because of it?”

Lindyss’ expression darkened. “Unless you want to greatly discover what if feels like to be beaten by your mom, you’ll shut up and fly.”

Lulu grumbled and gave Lindyss a dirty look. “Are you sure Grimmy can solve my problem?”

“Grimmy is great at creating problems,” Lindyss said. “The only reason he isn’t dead is because he’s equally as good at solving them.”