“Why don’t you give him a chance, honey?”

Kondra glanced at her mate before shifting her gaze back onto Grimmy. He was lying on his back with his four limbs sticking up into the air. Snores rocked the cave walls. Leila was curled up beside him, partially shielding him from her mother’s view. “I really don’t trust darkness dragons.” She frowned. “There’s something … off about them.”

“You mean how they’re the complete opposite of us with their morals?” Lulu asked from the side. Her face was smudged with soot, and she was cleaning up the remains of an explosion that occurred because she ‘added one drop too many’ of toad venom into her concoction.

Kondra sighed. “It’s great that I’m going to be a grandmother, but…” She sighed again and shook her head.

A rumbling sound caught Kondra’s attention, and she turned her gaze towards the elf sitting next to Grimmy’s tail. “So hungry…,” Lindyss murmured as she drew pictures of steak in the ground. She stared at the picture before swallowing her saliva.

Kondra frowned. “Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked Lindyss, gesturing towards a patch of moonlight on the ground with her tail. “We left it open for you.”

“I’m not a plant, goddammit!” Lindyss shouted and threw a lightning bolt at Kondra’s face. Her and Kondra’s eyes widened at the same time. “Uh. I really didn’t mean to do that.”

Kondra wiped away the snakes of electricity from her face and glared at Lindyss, causing the elf to stiffen. “A holy warrior wielding black magic?”

Lindyss let out a dry laugh. “I dabbled here and there as a magician before I was blessed,” she said. She summoned her sword of light and halo before waving them around. “Look, blessed sword and hat.”

Lulu cleared her throat. “I have this toad leg over here you can eat if you want,” she said. She glanced at Lindyss and her mother, but neither of them paid any attention to her. She sighed and lowered her head.

Leila stirred and opened one eye. Her other eye flashed open when she saw her mother looking as if she wanted to eat Lindyss. “Did something happen?” she asked, shielding Lindyss from her mother with her tail.

“Your little mascot threw a lightning bolt at me,” Kondra said.

Leila blinked and glanced at Lindyss.

Lindyss pursed her lips. “I’m hungry. And tired. And bored. I’ve been here for a month watching you two sleep!”

A claw flicked the back of Lindyss’ head, causing her to faceplant into the ground. “It’s just one month,” Grimmy said as he yawned and rolled onto his belly. “Why are you making such a fuss?”

“I really hate you, you know that?” Lindyss muttered through the earth, refusing to pick herself up.

“I love you too,” Grimmy said with a laugh. He scooped her up and dropped her on his head. “Let’s go hunting. I haven’t tried any of the local fauna since I came here.”

“Hunting?” Kondra asked, raising her head. “We don’t do that here. Neither do the phoenixes. It’ll disrupt the ecosystem if we join in.”

Grimmy blinked. “Well. I don’t live here, so that doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “Besides, it’s your failure as a host. My little holy elf has gone hungry because you haven’t fed her. You’re not even going to let her eat now?”

“I offered,” Lulu muttered and threw the toad leg into her pool of water.

“How long are you going to hide behind your holy warrior?” Kondra asked, curling her lips to reveal her teeth.

“Until it stops working,” Grimmy said with a nod.

Kondra’s gaze lingered on Grimmy before she shifted it to Leila. “I really can’t approve of the mate you’ve chosen,” she said and snorted. “Just what do you see in him?”

Leila puffed her chest out. “I see everything I want to see in a mate and more. He’s irreplaceable.” She nuzzled Grimmy’s neck, and the two gazed into each other’s eyes.

“So gross,” Leila’s brother, Luke, said from his patch of moonlight. “Get a room, you two.”

Leila stuck her tongue out at him. “Why aren’t you playing with Leo?”

Luke made a face. “He went to the assembly,” he said. “He’s been going in your place ever since you left.”

“Oh,” Leila said. “I see.” She cleared her throat and patted Grimmy’s wing. “Anyways, hunting time?”

“What!?” Kondra asked, her eyes widening. “You also hunt?”

Leila beamed at her parents before grabbing Lindyss and holding her up in front of her mother’s face. “Quell her wrath,” Leila said, holding Lindyss out even further.

Lindyss cleared her throat as sweat rolled down her back. “Say … isn’t there something Grimmy can do to, you know, not be so hated by you?” she asked. She resisted the urge to shrink back underneath Kondra’s glowing eyes. “I understand there’s some differences between your two beliefs, but Leila loves Grimmy so much that I feel sick from all the sweetness bubbling out of the two.”

“Hey.”

“And it’d be a shame to ruin that,” Lindyss said, ignoring Grimmy’s remark. “Are your beliefs more important than your daughter’s happiness?” Kondra’s eyes continued to glow. Lindyss sighed. “What if Leila hates you because of this and you never see your future grandchild?”

Kondra blinked, the glow disappearing from her eyes. She bit her lower lip and furrowed her brow. Smoke poured out of her nostrils and ears as she remained motionless.

“Don’t use my kid as your shield,” Grimmy said, wrinkling his snout at Lindyss.

Lindyss placed her hands on her hips. “You two used me as a shield first! I earned this!”

“Honey?” Leila’s father nudged Kondra’s side. “Why don’t we give Grimmy a righteous quest?”

Kondra blinked again as the smoke pouring out of her face stopped. “Then I’ll give Grimmoldesser a quest,” she said and nodded as if she had come up with the idea by herself. “Since ancient times, the—”

Grimmy stuck his claw out, interrupting Kondra’s speech. “I always skip boring dialogue,” he said. “Just tell me what I have to do.”

Kondra gave him a dirty look. “Pacify the dwarves. They’re causing a lot of trouble on this continent.”

“Oh,” Grimmy said. “That sounds easy. I accept. I’m good at pacifying species.” He grinned at Lindyss and gave her a thumbs up.

Lindyss sighed as a sense of sadness overwhelmed her. Poor dwarves.