The True Endgame

Book 6: Chapter 34:

The groups merged so that everybody was together near the vast lake. First, Fraydranth wanted a taste of the alcohol that GG and his people brought them. She needed to wine before she could dine. And, just as the great dragon expected, the wine was more than good enough for her. Barrel after barrel was chugged down in an instant until only half of the stock was left.

Fortunately, given her size, it was such a small amount that she would hardly even feel tipsy from it. Her liver would also be perfectly safe.

Then, once she was content with that, Fraydranth moved onto the fish.

“Now that I’m back here, I’m not sure only ten of these fish is going to be enough,” Fenrir said. He then immediately realized that what he said could be interpreted as shaming the mighty dragon for her size. An internal overreaction given that it was only a logical conclusion when faced with a being as large as a sports stadium, but he didn’t want to mess up their relations.

And then his worst fears came true.

“Are you insinuating something about my size, mortal pup?” Fraydranth asked, leaning her head closer to Fenrir so that one of her eyes would be right above him.

Cassiel was able to relate, so she made sure to elbow Fenrir’s side for that comment. And to tell him not to screw things up.

“I – I mean, uh,” Fenrir stuttered, sweat dripping down his forehead as his tail tucked itself between his legs.

“Well?” Fraydranth asked.

The simple solution was to come up with some bullshit reason, but Fenrir did not want to lie. He especially did not want to lie to a dragon who had fangs as big as his body was. “You see…”

“What I see is a mortal pup… being fooled by an old woman’s joke.”

Fraydranth’s guttural chuckling almost sounded similar to the sound of an alligator, but it made Fenrir think of something else.

She sounded like a shoebill.

Well, close to a shoebill, anyways. Regardless, just being able to make that comparison meant that Fenrir looked on at Fraydranth with excited eyes rather than feel embarrassed that he just got fooled by her.

“As for your previous comment! These ten fish will suffice. Dragons hunt and eat for sport, not for food. The only ‘hunger’ we feel is of desire for a specific taste. Food is of no concern to us aside from that,” Fraydranth explained.

“Dragons don’t need to eat?” Fenrir asked for confirmation.

“Nay. I doubt that any food source could sustain us if we were to truly require it. Eating one another would be our only option… but we do not dragons, nor will we ever.” Fraydranth narrowed her eyes at Eva as she mentioned the whole dragon eating part.

Nobody else knew why she would look at Eva like that when it came to eating dragons. As for Eva, she rubbed her arm and slightly turned her head away as she remembered the grilled dragon steak that she once ate with a delicious, buttery sauce drizzled over it.

Eva could go for another dragon steak.

“Now! If you would, dump the fish into my lake,” Fraydranth requested.

“I thought you wanted to eat them?” Fenrir asked.

“That is the plan, yes.”

“Can’t you just eat them from the barrels?”

“When it comes to wine, I may hold a barrel between my teeth and tilt my head back. Fish – if I were to do the same, I would not get to take my time to enjoy them.”

“Makes sense, but these are saltwater fish that we’re dumping into freshwater. If we only put one in at a time, and you’re faster, then it should be fine… assuming that something like putting saltwater fish into freshwater is a problem here.”

Fenrir turned to look at Eva. If anybody knew, it was going to be her.

“Yeah, it is,” Eva answered.

“Thanks, Miss Encyclopedia,” Fenrir said.

Now that was a nickname that Eva would forever wear with pride.

“Alright, are you ready for your fish now? I’ll put one in the lake,” Fenrir said to Fraydranth.

“Do not keep me waiting any longer than I have been!” Fraydranth answered.

Just as he said, Fenrir took one of the fish from the large, saltwater-filled barrels that they carried them in and gently set it down in the lake. The fish didn’t seem too happy about being placed into freshwater rather than seawater, but it was happy to get some freedom. Besides, it could always look for a way to get back into the ocean. It would not have been the first time that the fish ventured a bit too far upstream and needed to return to saltier waters. If it could do so then, then it could do so now!

Of course, the fish’s plan implied that it would not be almost immediately picked up by a massive dragon’s teeth. That was a very important factor not being considered by the fish. Even so, the fish set off as soon as it was released! All it had to do was find a path that would take it back to the ocean! It had no idea that it was in the middle of some mountains far too away from the ocean to make it back in time, but it could still try its best!

And then a single fang impaled it like a spear, killing the hopeful fish instantly.

Fraydranth’s rough tongue scraped against the the fish’s side, tearing its scales off and giving the group their first look at her tongue.

“Is it me, or does it look like she has a cat’s tongue? Those are… some pretty big spikes on her tongue,” Fenrir commented.

“It makes sense, I think,” Eva answered. “Dragons might be closer to reptiles when it comes to appearances, but they behave more like mammals. That includes self-grooming behaviors. A smooth tongue going against rough, uneven scales wouldn’t be as effective as a rougher tongue. I doubt those spikes are tough enough to actually hurt her scales, so instead it’s kind of like her tongue is both a cleaning wipe and a brush. Those spikes look long enough to get around and maybe under her scales, and they can probably get anything between her fangs, too.”

“That’s… kind of cool. I never imagined dragons having rough tongues before, but I guess it makes sense.”

“I wonder if I should try getting a rough tongue.”

“Please don’t,” Cassiel was quick to say.

“Why? As a human, I have no idea what it’s like to have a rough tongue. That alone makes me want to experiment for the sake of science and discovery – to learn what it’s like.”

Cassiel parted her lips to answer but then immediately closed them as a hint of red came to her cheeks.

Serra was the first one to catch on. “Why, Cass Cass?” Serra asked, knowing exactly what Cassiel was thinking of.

As soon as the others realized that Serra knew what was up… they knew what Cassiel meant. There was only one option if Serra was the first to figure it out.

“Hmm… my dearest Cassiel may have a point,” Nell spoke up. “Even as far as my fantasies go, I cannot think of any situation where such a rough tongue would be pleasurable. Painful, yes, but not even in the pleasurable sort of painful. Though, it would also depend on just how rough your tongue is! Softer than a cat’s tongue and certainly nowhere near as rough as a tiger’s tongue may be tolerable.”

“I’m starting to feel like the least perverted one here,” Fenrir said. “Even Cass Cass is jumping to lewd conclusions now. Meanwhile, I just want to do some more fishing.”

“Please, my hero. You may say that you wish to fish, but we all know that you are too easily distracted to ever pursue such a thing. You could play a game where fishing is the only task available in it, and you would still somehow find a way to do anything but fish!”

“Nell Nell is savage today,” Serra said.

Being called savage caused Nell to smile and puff her chest out. “My hero, you could make a book that is supposed to be about fishing be about conquering the world instead!”

Fenrir sighed. “All I want to do is fish…”

“You will most likely somehow discover how to travel to distant stars before you ever catch another fish!”

“That’s both an insult to my desire to fish and an insult of my actual fishing abilities. You really are savage today.”

“That is because I am turning to a new page in my book of life! I am entering the chapter of my life where I am rebellious and go through a ‘bad girl’ phase!”

To demonstrate just how “bad” Nell was now, she held up… a peace sign.

“You’re the baddest of them all,” Fenrir said. “Though, if I’m being honest… seeing you dressed up like some sort of ‘bad’ punk might be nice. I actually can picture you with piercings, tattoos, ripped jeans – all that stuff.”

“Regarding piercings, the piercings on my ears are enough for me. Well, perhaps I may add more to my ears, but nowhere else. Tattoos… something simple like a mermaid on my arm may be nice!” Nell replied.

“I was thinking more skulls and flames. A mermaid isn’t exactly ‘bad.’”

“Then I shall show the world that mermaids may, in fact, be bad to the… ah, what is the saying?”

“To the bone?”

“Yes, thank you! Bad to the bone! I shall be the first to prove that mermaids may be ‘bad to the bone!’”

“Bad to the tail,” Serra said.

“Even better!”

“By the way, Serra,” Fenrir said.

“Yeah?” Serra asked.

“Serra Berra.”

Hearing that nickname instantl brought a smile to Serra’s face. “It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, I just realized that. That’s why I wanted to call you it. As for Cass Cass here… I’m starting to think we should start calling her Lewdiel. I mean, Eva is here being all scientific and curious and all that, and Lewdiel’s first thought is what it’d be like with a rough tongue.”

“I swear if you make that name a thing,” Cassiel said.

“It’s alright. We won’t call you anything weird, Lewdiel. Just something honest.”

“You’re making me reconsider my stance on domestic violence.”

GG, overhearing the conversation, looked concerned when he heard that… but the girls and Fenrir were all smiling and seemed to be joking around. Cassiel might have said what she said in a serious tone, but they all knew she was just joking and that she would never seriously support something like that. GG and his villagers with him, though, were not as in on the joke, nor did they look like they appreciated it.

“Hey,” Eva whispered into Cassiel ear’s, “you might want to be careful about that sort of joke. She’s not here, but a player in GG’s village went through some stuff in real life, so they all kind of take that topic really seriously. It’s not something to joke about around them.”

“Isn’t it obvious it’s a joke?” Cassiel whispered back.

“To us, but they’re not fine with that kind of humor even if it’s obvious, and you kind of like to sound serious to make things like that funnier. Try to avoid any dark humor when we’re around them, alright?”

“It wasn’t even that dark, but… alright. Thanks for letting me know and I’ll try to remember that. Do you think I should apologize?”

“It’s fine, I’ll talk to him later about it. There’s something else I need to talk to him about anyways.”

Done with the whispering, Eva gave Cassiel’s cheek a lick before pulling away.

“Wha-what was that for?” Cassiel asked.

“So you can compare it to when I lick you with a rough tongue,” Eva said and winked.

“I’m not letting you lick me if you change your tongue.”

“What if I change it to be longer? Or forked? Thicker? Ridged or bumpy?”

“I—”

“Lewdiel and Lewdva,” Fenrir said. “And Lewdrra, and Lewdell.” He paused, look at Azalabulia, and thought about what she did on The Shoebill.

Azalabulia shook her head, trying to get him not to nickname her something like that.

It didn’t work.

“Lewdabulia,” Fenrir said.

Azalabulia slumped her shoulders and whined.

“I feel like my sex drive is nothing compared to even one of you,” Fenrir said.

“Hmm. Realistically speaking,” Nell said, “I would put you and our dearest Azalabulia together at the bottom. Cassiel is above you two, then there is me, and finally Serra at the top!”

Fenrir visualized what this stack of sex drive would look like in his head.

Two people at the bottom… and then three more people stacked directly on top of each other over them.

In other words, their sex drive tier list looked like a cock and balls.

As Fenrir and the others talked, Fraydranth took her time with each fish after she actually caught them on her fangs. She’d even huff a bit of fire at times to torch them. As much as she might have enjoyed the fish raw, she did prefer them to have some charring.

And then she noticed something.

Two members of the group looked particularly interested in some of the wine that was brought for her. The idea of sharing something that she rarely got to enjoy wasn’t an idea that she particularly enjoyed, but she still had several full barrels worth of the wine to drink on her own. And, as far as she knew, humans didn’t exactly drink anywhere near as much as dragons. Sparing a couple of cups would be no problem when she still had about forty gallons to go.

“Would you two like to try some of my wine?” Fraydranth asked Serra and Azalabulia.

“It’s – it’s okay,” Azalabulia said. “We brought this for you, and I really shouldn’t…”

“Yeah,” Serra answered. Speaking and being honest to a massive dragon was, to Serra’s surprise, far easier than talking to normal people.

“Then you may try some!” Fraydranth declared.

“Thanks.”

While Serra was very casual about the whole thing, Azalabulia looked panicked. She really, really wanted to try some… but she knew the effect that alcohol had on her. She couldn’t risk getting into that sort of mood while around the others. Furthermore, they had no cups. How were they to try the wine without any cups?

“I need a cup,” Serra said, standing in front of Fenrir and looking up at him. She made him think of a child asking their parent for a cup.

Fenrir shook the thought out of his head since he really didn’t like to think of his girlfriends as children. “Hey, GG, do you guys have any cups on you by any chance?” he asked.

“Sorry, we brought none. We expected her to drink everything on her own as she usually does,” GG answered.

“No problem. So… what can we use as a cup then?” Fenrir asked nobody in particular as he looked around. Unfortunately, there was nothing conveniently cup-shaped anywhere to be seen.

And then he had an idea.

He looked down at Rod.

Partner… I know what you’re thinking. I would normally feel ashamed to be used as a cup instead of as your fishing rod or weapon, but… I am willing to become anything for you. And this also means… I get to have a cute girl’s lips pressing against me, Rod thought. Of course, nobody could hear his thoughts, but they could all see his gem flashing.

Fenrir grabbed onto Rod and asked, “This might be demeaning, so I’m sorry, but could you turn into a cu—”

Rod instantly turned into a cup as soon as the request was made.

“That… was suspiciously easy.”

Rod’s gem continued to excitedly flash.

“Hey, Rod. You’re not… this eager to be used as a cup because it means one of my girlfriends is going to be touching you with her lips, are you?”

Rod’s flashing stopped. It was the suspicious sort of stopping – like if somebody was just called out and instantly froze. If Rod had pores, there would likely be sweat dripping off from his gem.

Fenrir narrowed his eyes at Rod.

And then he shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’m just screwing with you. I’m not going to be jealous of her drinking from a cup.”

I’m sorry, partner! You’re too kindhearted! I don’t deserve a partner as good as you! I – I regret ever even thinking those horrible thoughts! I swear to you on my honor as your partner that I will not take even the slightest amount of joy in serving as your lady’s cup!

Fenrir handed Rod over to Serra.

O-oh… this hand – it’s so… soft and warm. Being handled by her is completely different from being handled by my partner. This is… addicting. No! I – I must resist! Partner is the only one for me! And she is his woman! I can’t betray my partner’s trust and take any joy in this!

Serra’s tightened her grip around the fishing rod-like handle sticking out from the bottom of the cup as she dipped him down into the wine.

This grip, so soft, yet firm. This is the touch of a woman who knows exactly how to wrap her fingers around handles. If all the other etaíros gems knew about this girl, they would all abandon their partners to come and serve her. Even now, I feel the temptation…

After filling Rod’s cup with the wine, Serra slowly brought him closer and closer to her lips.

This – no, this is dangerous! If she does this then I don’t know if I can ever return to my partner! I won’t be able to serve him anymore! Nothing he could do to me could ever be as good as this girl’s lips! She is going to steal me from him! Yet – yet! Why… do I feel so excited? What is this sensation swelling up within me? I thought that my partner was the only one for me, but now… now…

Serra brought Rod’s cup to right before her lips, tilted her head back ever so slightly, and parted her lips.

And then she tilted Rod’s cup just enough so that the wine would fall into her mouth rather than placing her mouth against the cup.

Rod’s internal thoughts fell silent.

“Ooh,” Serra said. “It’s really sweet. It doesn’t taste like alcohol, it’s kinda like… a berry juice.”

“Maybe it’s low on the alcohol content then,” Fenrir said. “I think that’s how it usually works. The less alcoholic something is, the less – well, you know, like alcohol it’s going to taste.”

“Yeah, it doeshn’t tayshte anything likes… alcowall.”

In an instant after just barely drinking any of the wine, Serra went from standing straight and perfect speech to wobbling from side to side and slurring as if she were wasted.

“What – what just happened?” Fenrir asked.

“Ah, I forgot to warn you,” GG said. “We use a special yeast that is stronger than anything you could find in the real world. Real yeasts are going to struggle getting you up to twenty percent alcohol most of the time, so you need distillation to go higher than that for the most part. Our yeast? The yeast we use can take a drink up to the seventies on a bad day, near ninety on a great day. And the berries we use have a special effect that causes them to induce a drunk-like effect even without fermenting them. Our specialty wine is made with berries that can get you drunk all on their own, and then we make them even stronger by fermenting all their sugars with our yeast! Impressive, right?”

Serra went from simply wobbling to stumbling around and giggling with flushed cheeks and glazed eyes.

“He-hey, you alright?” Fenrir asked, grabbing onto Serra’s shoulders.

Serra answered him… but not with words. The noises that left her mouth were nothing but cute abominations that were surely meant to be words but were spoken in a language that nobody could ever hope of understanding.

“I’m… definitely not trying that,” Azalabulia said. She was so afraid of what that alcohol would cause her to behave like that all temptation of actually trying it was gone. It was far, far too dangerous.

“Oh, sorry. I should have warned you about that,” Eva said. “I forgot what it’s like when you drink it for the first time.”

“The first time?” Fenrir asked as he dumped the rest of the wine in the cup out before returning Rod to his hip.

“Yeah. It’s… kind of like a drug. You build up a tolerance to the berries themselves really fast. She probably wouldn’t get even half this drunk if she tries to drink that much again within the next couple of weeks. If you try to drink this stuff more than once every few weeks, the only part that really hits you is the alcohol from fermenting the berries. The berries themselves won’t have any effect and won’t even taste that sweet anymore. It basically becomes just like drinking any really high alcohol content beverage.”

“That’s ambrosia berries for you,” GG added on. “The best berries you could ever taste in this world or the real one, but the downside is that if you try to enjoy them too often, you won’t get to enjoy them at all. You either have to be patient and wait for your body’s tolerance to lessen, or you have to consume so many that you would probably pick these mountains barren of them just to feel the effects.”

“It probably would have been nice to know that beforehand,” Fenrir said, looking down at his utterly wasted girlfriend.

“Hwwwwuaaaaaaackz,” Serra hwuaked.

“Will she be alright?”

“She will be fine,” GG answered. “She can wake and relax in reality until the effect on her body here wears off if she wants to, but this state should not last for more than an hour on its own given that she hardly drank any.”

“I’mmma… peanut!” Serra announced. “He…hehe… hhhnut…”

“Oh dear,” Nell said. “She really is rather out of it. My hero, would you mind if I held her?”

“I don’t mind holding her,” Fenrir answered.

“My hero, I will repeat my question. Would you mind if I held her?”

Fenrir looked into Nell’s eyes and did not see the eyes of a concerned girlfriend wishing to care for her lover. Instead… he saw the eyes of somebody who absolutely wanted to take advantage of the situation. “What are you going to do to her?”

((This series is only officially posted to: scribblehub.com, acearriande.com, patreon.com/acearriande, and royalroad.com. If you are reading this series on any other website, please send me an email at [email protected] I will not be able to continue posting my stories for free if my series continue being uploaded without my consent to other platforms. If you have paid money for this on Amazon, email me, file a report, and request a refund as it has been stolen and illegally published.))

“Enjoy her to my heart’s content. Non-sexually, of course. I would never try anything while she is in such a state since she would not be able to consent! However, cuddling my drunken girlfriend to make sure that she does not get into any trouble does not require such clear consent. It is for her own good.”

“Nellellellz… cujull,” Serra mumbled, reaching out for Nell with little grabby hands that couldn’t even stay pointing in the right direction without severe wobbling.

“See, my hero? She wishes to cuddle! Now, please do hand her over with haste.”

Fenrir shrugged and handed Serra over. Serra immediately clung onto Nell and rubbed her face against Nell’s chest, though she did not even mean to do so for a sexual cause. She simply liked how soft Nell’s chest was against her face. As for Nell, she gently wrapped her arms around Serra and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “I shall be here for you until you are feeling all better, my dearest Serra,” Nell said.

“Hyeck ye,” Serra mumbled before proceeding to drool onto Nell’s dress.

Fenrir looked down at the wine and then back up at Fraydranth.

Given how rarely that Fraydranth ever got to drink the wine, according to her own implications anyways, and the fact that she could drink eighty gallons of the stuff and only “maybe” feel an effect… Fenrir was suddenly much more impressed by her. No matter how massive she might have been, that alcohol was insanely strong, and she was drinking hundreds of times more than what Serra had.

“Oh, right. I wanted to ask her why she drank it the way she did,” Fenrir said.

“What do you mean?” Cassiel asked.

“Why she didn’t just… you know, put her mouth against the cup or anything.”

“I mean, if I was the one who wanted a drink, I wouldn’t touch it with my mouth directly either.”

“Why not?”

“Your fishing rod is basically a living thing, right? It’s one thing to drink from a dumb cup that has no feelings. It’s another thing to drink from a living being that’s shaped like a cup. It would be… weird. Almost kind of like cheating.”

“Pfftt, I wouldn’t consider it cheating if you drink from Rod.”

“Shush. I don’t want to put my lips against anybody else to drink something from them.”

“Well, when you put it that way, Lewdiel. Leave it to you to somehow think of it in a lewd context.”

“I’m – I’m not even – ugh. You’re the worst.”

“And you’re the best, Cass Cass. Anyways, I guess I should figure out if we passed the quest or not. We’ve done all of this to get Fraydranth’s approval, but we haven’t actually heard whether or not we’ve succeeded.”

Eva almost said something, but she figured that she would let Fraydranth give them the news. Everybody else save for Serra and Nell suddenly looked much more anxious. Serra and Nell were too busy cuddling on the grass to care about Fraydranth’s approval.

The alcohol took all of Serra’s usual perverseness and turned it into an extreme need for cuddling. Serra was no longer Lewdrra. She had become… Cuddlerra.

And Nell was more than delighted to cuddle her wasted girlfriend more than anybody had ever cuddled before.

“So!” Fenrir shouted up to Fraydranth. “Do we pass? Is everything good enough?”

Fraydranth cocked her head at the question. Obviously, everything was fine or she would have said something, and didn’t she already tell them that she was going to help even if they failed already? “What? I thought—”

She cut herself off as soon as she remembered that she only talked to Eva about that. There was also the fact that she forgot to use her usual high-and-mighty tone of voice.

After clearing her throat, flames erupting from her mouth as she did so, Fraydranth lifted her head high into the air and looked down at the group. “Hmm… you wish to know whether these offerings are acceptable in exchange for my assistance?”

“Right. We did everything that you asked and got here on time,” Fenrir answered. “So, will you help us?”

“Let me think about it. After all, the wine does not taste as strong as it did the last time, and these fish were young and small. I was expecting a more potent drink and much larger snacks.”

Fenrir raised an eyebrow at her response. “You didn’t clarify any specific details. We did exactly what you want.”

“I cannot argue with that. You did, indeed, accomplish the tasks that I gave you. The only question is whether you did so in a sufficient enough manner or not. Do not forget that you are asking for the most powerful existence in this region for help. You will not find any others stronger than I. To reward you with my abilities in your upcoming battle – do you truly deserve that after only barely managing to succeed in your goals?”

While Eva might have known that the whole dramatic act of Fraydranth was just a show, Fenrir did not, and Fraydranth was a convincing enough actor to make him think that she was serious.

Eva was just about to whisper into Fenrir’s ear that it’s alright – that Fraydranth is just joking… when Fenrir stepped forward.

“You might be a dragon who can kill all of us without any effort, but we’re stubborn. I really hate when people go back on their word or move the goalpost. If you don’t help us after we did everything that you asked for, then I promise that I will come back here myself, no matter how many times it takes, to make you regret it,” Fenrir threatened, bringing back the threatening aura of the former Divine Brigade leader.

“You wish to threaten me?” Fraydranth asked, lowering her head to get a closer look at him. “You could not defeat me on your own in a million years, yet you are threatening to do such a thing if I do not lend you my assistance?”

“You see, you’re misunderstanding me. I’m not threatening to ‘defeat’ you. I have no doubt that you could kick my ass over and over for the rest of eternity if I tried to take you down on my own. That’s why I said I would make you regret it, not that I would defeat you. That’s what you do when it comes to people you can’t beat in a fair fight: you annoy the everliving shit out of them until they regret ever being born. And trust me, there is nobody alive in this world who is better at making people rage until they are begging for mercy or hiding somewhere never to be seen again. Now, I don’t want to do that to you, but I will if you go back on your word.”

Needless to say, there were some vary varied reactions in response to Fenrir’s Divine Brigade leader personality being dragged out of him by the sort of thing that he always hated. There were few personality traits that he hated in people more than those who moved the goalposts or went back on their word.

As for those reactions, Eva scratched the side of her head and looked away. Cassiel sighed and planted her face in her palm, and Azalabulia looked panicked and was waving her arms around to try and get them to calm down. She really didn’t want to lose her opportunity of being trained by Fraydranth, but she also didn’t want to go against Fenrir and she did agree with him. Nell and Serra were still too busy cuddling to care.

GG and his group of people simply looked shocked that Fenrir was willing to threaten Fraydranth like that. They watched the sight unfold with dropped jaws and wide eyes.

Then there was Fraydranth herself.

Fraydranth brought herself closer and closer to Fenrir, parting her mouth so that Fenrir could see just how massive her fangs were up close and personal… and then she leaned back and relaxed her body. “How entertaining! To be threatened so boldly by such a man! I have never had anybody speak to me that way before, not even my siblings to the north! You may just be the most entertaining man that I have ever met. As for our arrangement – worry not. I only wished to tease you and I have had every intention of helping you.”

Fenrir sighed and relaxed his own posture. “You might have teased me a bit too seriously there. You’re supposed to make teasing obvious,” he said.

“Perhaps. However, if I had made it more obvious, I would not have been granted the opportunity of witnessing your determination. That threat of yours made me all the more interested in lending you my aid.”

“Glad to hear it. It’s been a while since I’ve had to threaten somebody like that. So, you’re going to help us?”

Fraydranth stood tall and proud, flexing her wings and tail as she looked down at Fenrir. “I shall help you to the best of my abilities, Fenrir.”