Queen's Gambit Chapter 21

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Previous Chapters:
Draconic Fortune (Noelle)
1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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Draconic Fortune

Chapter 09

Great Dragon Fountain

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The temple of the Drakeforger stood out and massively so. From left to right, past the corners of the buildings at the edge of the very wide road that separated the rest of the city from the temple, the dark crimson of the temple contrasted with the bright basalt grey to all sides so much, it almost hurt his eyes. The blue and green pillars on both sides of the gate to the temple, had an exterior design that was off somehow.

Kris half expected the slight indentations found on cylindrical pillars used for temples and forums at the Mediterranean coast, left behind from ancient times. But the pillars here just had six flat sides arranged in a circle. That about them alone stood out even more to him than the temple itself. The aesthetic gave him the feeling that he was supposed to recognize it from somewhere, but he didn't. Not right now at least.

To both sides of the gate stood, of all the things to expect in Bedrock, dragons. Two green, bipedal dragons with pointy snouts, long, curled up tails and light green wings with claws at their tips. They wore shiny, silver suits of armor and were armed with a spear and a shield. The shields had an image of a paintbrush engraved on their front.

When Kris and Noelle approached the gate, the guards acknowledged their arrival, but didn't make any efforts to try to stop them. They greeted them instead. "Welcome, dragonslayer. Her eminence, the Drakeforger, has been expecting you."

"Well...here we are."

"She has eyes and ears everywhere. None tread upon this realm without her knowledge. She has ways of knowing everything that happens in it. If she were not well-aware that you were coming to visit, these doors would be closed. To you and to anyone."

It was completely dark behind the guards. Maybe this was a last chance to get an idea of what exactly they were walking into. "So who or what is the Drakeforger exactly?"

"She came from a realm far, far away, but has been with us since the dawn of life in this realm. When the first dragons were created, they were crude, primitive. Their creation lacked direction. Then, the Drakeforger was brought to this realm. And ever since then, it is said that whenever the lightners created dragons, she has guided their hand, shaped the mold their flesh is poured into, sharpened their senses to better perceive their vision of what they sought to create and tempered their skill in creating us, so as to improve on it as much as they could."

"In a way, she is mother to all of us. But enough of that. We must not keep you any longer. Pass and face her - and with her, your destiny. But be warned. You tread upon sacred ground. Treat her with the respect she is owed."

He nodded and they passed the guards as asked. Straight into the oppressive darkness that filled the hall behind them. There were no torches here, no electric lights, not even magic crystals. It was pitch-black in here, and cold as well. Picking out his phone did allow for a little light, but not enough to penetrate the darkness in a meaningful way. The floor was made up of crude wooden planks. It wasn't laminated at all, and was unevenly carved or dented all over.

The scratches and dents were so big, he could feel them through his metal boots, and the dents were bigger than his boots. And the further he went away from the exit, the more the last remnants of light faded away and the more their steps echoed through the dizzying void. "Kris." Noelle spoke up with a shaky voice. "Kris, I'm scared."

He could feel something moving about. Slowly. There was something in here with them. But his and Noelle's elbows touched regularly, they could hear each other's steps, they could hear each other's silent gasps for air. It was so quiet, they could have heard each other's heartbeat if they tried. "I'm right next to you."

"I know." Then why tell him that she was scared? If him being right here with her didn't help, what more did she want? Why did she bring it up and make listening more difficult in the process? He sometimes struggled to understand her reasoning.

While rolling his boots along the floor with each step, he felt something. Whatever hit the floor, applied a little more force one time. Maybe a slip-up. He grabbed Noelle by the back collar of her robe and pulled at her to get her to stop at the same time as he did. He summoned his sword and carefully moved it about in the dark. "Hello? I know someone's there." Then he was startled by a noise that took him by surprise.

At first, it sounded like a growling, but upon hearing it for more than a tenth of a second, he knew it to be something that made him stir more than actual growling would have. It was a voice humming and chuckling to herself. "And so, my precious, brave little boy lives, and came back to me at last." He surged around, because it came from right behind him.

It was a deep woman's voice, that made him very uncomfortable. "I've wondered for so long, what had became of you. I had long given up." The sultry tone of her voice, and her voice itself made him feel things like he Mistresses' did. Inappropriate things he didn't want to feel around Noelle, who trembled and pressed herself against the side of his armor to make it worse. Now that he had some vague idea of where the voice was coming from, he slowly stepped away from it.

"Oh my, what a shaky blade. I must have you really worked up. Would you rather keep the lights on?" Now, with very heavy steps, heavy enough to explain the dents in the floor, the source of the voice moved away from them. And then, an insanely long, but crackling torrent of fire shot up from within the dark in front of them, up and far above them, into a brazier that was made of logs of wood stacked together in a cage.

The fire revealed it's origin to be a very tall, hooded figure, which quickly conjured another torrent of fire, directed at a brazier off to the side. And then she lit another brazier, and another one. Each one lit up the hall more, and allowed for the two of them to see more of it. Even with all of them lit, the temple's interior was left very dim. But at least, you could see in it. The walls were lined back to back with pillars like those at the entrance, and taller ones were arranged throughout the hall. All pillars had the same six-flat-sides shape, but came in a wide, and familiar array of colours and tones.

And the now visible figure behind the fires, was a ten foot tall dragoness. With a physique that could be described as voluptuous to say the least - enough so for her form to show - even through the loose brown monk's robe wrapped over it. But Kris recognized her from somewhere. That smile. That application of lipstick at the front end of her pointy snout, the unusually long eyelashes, that long and voluminous body of well-kept dark red hair, those particular horns.

And he recognized the desaturated mauve of her skin. The result of mixing a bright grey into deep purple. "Welcome back, 'dragonslayer'." Knowing what she was, almost caused him to stumble. She was the book that Berdly would never shut up about. More precisely, the dragon on the cover. If it weren't for her covering herself up in that loose robe, she wouldn't have been wearing anything, just like on the picture she was from.

His aghast classmate stared at him with an open mouth. "You know her?"

"No I don't." Once he collected himself, he walked a little closer to the Drakeforger. "What do you mean, 'welcome back'?"

The Drakeforger covered her mouth and chuckled. "Do you not remember? How could you forget something as our last time together? Do you suffer from amnesia?"

"We never met. Was it Butcher? Was I yellow when you met 'me'?"

"Oh no, it was most certainly you." She stepped away a bit and, now with the shifting contours of her robe in full vision, began sneaking around the two of them as if they couldn't see her, knowing full well that they could. Which was a bit of a relief. Whenever she was in his field of view, he tried to avoid looking at her, be it her face, or the rest of her body.

She had a purposeful swing to her movements that accentuated the parts of her figure, that he had rather not spent too much time focusing on. Lest this fittingly shaped mother to all dragons leered back at him more than he feared she already did. "What's wrong?" She surged towards him and ran her index finger along the underside of his head. Pulling his head upwards to face hers by his chin. "Why would you do this? Embarrassed to talk of moments you shared with an old loved one, now that there's a new one listening?" She laughed and backed away again before he could answer.

"Kris, what is she talking about?"

"I don't know." He suspected that she was lying to manipulate him in some way. "Can you help me remember? What happened 'the last time we met'?"

"Still playing the fool, aren't we? Very well, I shall entertain this charade. It was several months ago. I caught you alone with one of the many 'succubi' that now roam this land. Watching the setting of a sun that wasn't there. And when you saw that I had troubles of my own, you were such a helpful little boy, you could not resist but to offer your assistance."

He didn't like how she continued to sneak around him and Noelle, too fast for the two of them to follow all of her movements for too long, but with the constant danger of her rushing his way like she did before. "The fragment was gone, after you reached for it. Lost in the void as you were. You must have caught it, and now you came back to me."

"Fragment?"

"The light I was attempting to reach, and that you sought to reach on my behalf. I presume I now owe you an explanation of what it was. It was a fragment of the Font of Creation. The source. The fountain to all fountains. That which gives form both the dark world as a whole, and the light world. When the barriers between the worlds weaken, tiny fragments of it's power, with tremendous luck, can be found briefly seeping into the deepest crevaces of the dark world, only to disperse not long later. To claim such a fragment for oneself, is to wield a power that defies the laws of the dark world and the light world alike. Tell me, have there been any...changes? Do you seem to have acquired some new skill you couldn't explain? An ability that defies all logic as you know it?"

Yes, there were the lights. The timeframe matched her story, too. "No...no. Not that I'd know." The lights that no-one else could see. The lights that allowed him to turn back time. But even if that was where that all came from, he would have remembered travelling to the dark world and catching a light, would he? He definitely would have remembered meeting someone like the Drakeforger.

"No reason to fret. I am certain you have one, even if you are not aware of it, and it will give you the edge you need in what lies ahead."

"What lies ahead?"

"Temptress, one of those new arrivals. Once half of a pair, now a wayward witch." With a slow swipe of the dragon woman's hand, images appeared in the air before them. Flickers of light in different colours began painting a picture Kris could see from different angles - as if it wasn't a screen or a floating display, but the people in question were actually there right in front of them.

An image of Temptress and a few succubi on a boat in the stormy sea. "The self-absorbed tradesman who sent you to me, is not aware that she has not set sail for the northern straits of the Kingdom of Heaven, but is travelling further south. You have more time to reach the throne than he expected, but if you let it go that far, you will face hardships he was not aware of."

"What hardships?"

"Let me go back to a time long before the tradesman and his people arrived." The images of Temptress travelling across the sea vanished and in their place, new ones appeared, showing something completely different. Around Kris and Noelle, an enormous meadow unfolded spanning far through the dark hall, either shrouded in light and dark blue light, or covered in light and dark blue grass. Everywhere on it, all kinds of wild reptilian fantasy animals that never existed outside of art or fiction, wandered and flew in different directions.

"Long ago, the land in this realm was wild and untamed. Roamed by savage creatures. They were unlike the succubi of today. More primitive. More ferocious. More ravenous, with no mercy or concern for their prey. I myself witnessed the creation of most of them. The singing and trumpeting angels have always been with us and never ceased to be, but at some point, the end of the age of dragons came. The lightners' presence waned and with it, most of the beasts vanished as well. Some of those beasts, those among them that were dragons, were banished beneath a gorge much like the one the ugly morsels you call 'succubi' or 'Susie' escaped from."

"They are now known only from tales, and only referred to as the Elder Dragons. Dragons from before the lightners' presence weakened, and with them, their vision for dragons was tamed. Those who knew them from the time of their freedom, oft call them 'Devourers', as a change they noticed in newer dragons when compared to the Elder Dragons, was that they were not only less savage, but also less gluttonous. They no longer swallowed entire other creatures whole."

"But whether you intend to call them 'Devourers' or 'Elder Dragons', the matter stays the same. Temptress can reach the terrace upon which she finds her destination - and yours - on her own. But rightfully, she doesn't deem herself strong enough to best the Golden Guardians without reinforcements. Reinforcements of a scale and strength that the succubi cannot provide. Any succubi that die, she can resummon and resurrect by doing so."

Within the meadow, Temptress appeared again. "But none of them measure up to what she will be faced with." She was holding a brown, pointy metal object, chanting something Kris and Noelle couldn't hear, and a ray of red light shot from the object and raved open the ground before her. "The same Knight you have beyond a doubt heard of, has gifted Temptress with a fragment of his armor, and like he did with the succubi, she plans to use it to unleash the Elder Dragons."

Where the ray had raged along the ground, the earth opened up, chunks of the ground itself fell into the depths beneath it, and the same wild reptiles burst out of the earth through the newly opened up hole. "If this happens, endless armies of giant creatures will wash over this realm as they have before. The new arrivals, who have already settled here, are small and weak, they will without a doubt face terrible losses. Your only hope to stem the tide without a lot of lost lives, should this happen, is to enlist the aid of the Dragonborn."

The still picture she conjured up, was that of a young man. He had the white, fuzzy but fanged face of a boss monster, but the horns, wings and tail of a dragon. He wore a helmet forged specifically with openings for his horns, and the way his horns and the helmet played together, made him look like he was wearing a viking helmet. Patches of green scales were scattered between his white fur and those same scales covered his hands. For lack of a better way to describe it, he was half dragon and half boss monster. "He is said to be made from the flesh of a lightner, but born the son to Mace, this realm's lost protector, and her only legacy."

Mace? That was a familiar name. Mace was a fictional character, that Asriel made up. A tall, green dragon barbarian who wore revealing armor padded out with furs, and wielded a spiked mace and a buckler. He had a lot of such characters, but Mace was his favourite. He was very upfront about that to Kris, and showed him the drawings of her that he had. Not least of course, because Kris wound up making most of Asriel's art of her. Kris' 'Berserker' was based on one of those drawings. "What do you know about Mace?"

"Not all dragons were feral beasts that walked on four legs. Some were like me, and later the succubi. They walked on two legs and spoke like you and I do. Five of them, led by Mace, were the protectors of the Kingdom of Heaven. But when the lightners' presence weakened, they vanished along with most life from days past." She showed them a silhouette of five adult dragonesses. They were all unusually tall, muscular and well-endowed at the same time. The way Asriel drew - and requested all humanoid dragons. Kris recognized each one of them by their armors and choice in weaponry. "Now, the Dragonborn is all that is left. They say in the realm beneath the ground, he fights the Elder Dragons to this day. If they go free, so does he. He is your chance at defusing the threat that they pose."

He had gotten used to listening to her by now. And he could avoid a lot of the discomfort by never actually directly looking at her. He only looked in her general direction, like he often did around other people. "All right. If she frees the Elder Dragons, fetch the Dragonborn. I got that part. But what about those 'Golden Guardians' Temptress has to beat. What are those? Are they going to help us if we make it to the terrace?"

"They are the closest thing short of the lightners themselves, that this realm has to gods." The five silhouettes of dragon women made way for the nigh-blinding image of five upright, winged humanoids, clearly visible, encased completely in very cloggy bright golden armor, forged with more detail than he could possibly go over from the distance they were seen from. The armor of each one had the golden likenesses of objects and utensils forged onto them, that didn't quite fit together with the imposing titans he was seeing balance axes, greatswords and hammers off their comparable mountains for shoulderplates.

"They are Paintmaster, keeper of the arts." She held her palm under the first one from the left. Golden paintbrushes were carved and attached to his armor, in places rows of them covered entire segments of it. She continued and moved along the row of guardians as she did. "Penmaster keeper of knowledge." The next one was covered in pens and pencils. "Chantmaster, keeper of songs."

The third one had violins or guitars attached to his shoulders and maracas to the backs of his upper arms. Instead of wings, triangles decorated both sides of his helmet and xylophones covered his legplates. "Praymaster, steward to the Angel." This one was just covered in wings, crosses and holy books. An extra large, emphasized cross peered out of his chest plate in the front. Like the other three, he had three pairs of wings, but his were even bigger than those of the others. "And lastly..."

The last one just had telescopes forged onto every lengthy part of his armor, and the rest was decked with stars. Kris felt confident enough to understand the pattern and cut her off, briefly looking her in the eyes with a wink. "Is it Starmaster, keeper of the stars?"

"Almost. He is Stargazer, keeper of the great beyond. The Golden Guardians are believed to be the stewards, the keepers, the angels that watch upon all of us from their terrace up high. In truth of course, they only guard the Throne of Achievement and the dark fountain. They deem themselves above the struggles of those of us down here. And in more than one way, they are right. For it is said that they were all forged to be bestowed upon not just any lightners, but only those that proved their worth through great accomplishments. Whoever wields power over the throne and the fountain, will soon control this entire realm."

"That is why Temptress wants it for herself. And it is to stop the greed of twisted souls like her in their tracks, that they kill anyone who treads near the throne and the fountain. Even in the absence of the lightners, they are diligent in their task and spare none who come too close to the hallows they protect, and you will not be an exception. Even when you have stopped and bested Temptress, if you seek to seal the fountain, end the squabbles within this realm and return to the light world, you must come up with a way to defeat or pass the guardians as well."

All right. That was all nice, but it left grounds for him to raise his finger in protest. "I was expecting something more useful. Do you have any tips? What weaknesses does a succubus have? Or an Elder Dragon? Is there some trick I could use to avoid them?"

All illusions around them dispersed, and the Drakeforger began wandering around the two of them again. "I'm afraid not. Far from it. Especially in your case. A rule that goes beyond this world, is that humans and dragons have always been drawn to one another." Having arrived right behind them, she took a sharp turn to the left and straight to Kris. "Sometimes, they clash violently. Sometimes, they clash in other ways."

When she said that, she closed in too fast for him to dodge, and snuck straight past him. On her way, brushed against his not armored shoulder with her waist. Sliding against his back with some of her tail while she drew away again. He could feel his shoulder pressing into her side. He froze in place when he felt the goosebumps it gave him. The thin fabric of her robe didn't obscure her form to his touch in the least and it didn't make this any less awkward for him in general.

"But a clash can never be avoided. Even if they were not instructed to do so, they would always seek you out. It is in their nature. You cannot avoid them. And to kill a succubus accomplishes nothing. The power the Knight bestowed on Temptress, allows her to resummon any succubus that dies with no effort. Instead, you should continue doing what allowed you to make it this far. Use the natural attraction that forces you to confront them to your advantage and befriend them."

After this though, she fell silent and observed him from several of distance. He did what he can to pull himself together and nodded. "All right. Is that everything."

In more of a playful way than a serious one, she put her arms together and scratched the lower font of her mouth. "Let me see. Elder Dragons, Dragonborn, Golden Guardians...no. I've been over the crucial parts. So then..." She stopped right in front of him, turned around to face him, and then lunged forward. Straight his way with her arm stretched out to reach for him. He instinctively jumped back a bit, but nowhere near enough to escape her.

The way the shock surged through his back felt like a large spider landing on it and stretching it's legs to reach the sides.

The Drakeforger wound her arm past his neck, grabbed hold of it, and brought his head closer, so that she could plant a kiss on his cheek with her snout. He didn't want this. He wanted to push her away, but his arms failed him. He kept his mouth closed, but he couldn't keep his heartbeat from accelerating. By the angel, he couldn't just hear her humming and giggling when she smeared the side of his face with lip gloss. He could feel it.

The unwanted excitement from her hard-to-get-used-to voice and the mere presence - had just worn off a little and now it was back in full force. "Now then, my little dragonslayer." Even when she stood back up, towered above him and drew away, the shock lingered for a few moments, before the relief settled in. "Go my precious little boy. Befriend those dragons, and save this realm from the looming threat of enslavement at the hands of the Knight."

He slowly backed off and away from her, happy about every foot he got closer to the exit. When he felt Noelle walk along at his side, stunned as he was, he started grasping around without looking in an attempt to catch her arm, which he did after a few attempts. Holding Noelle by the forearm gave him some grounding and calmed him down.

Then, when they had almost made it out and already had their backs turned on most of the inside of the temple, as well as it's inhabitant, that unease-inducing voice called for them again. "Oh, and lightners." Worried about what awaited him, he turned around. She kept her distance, at least that was something. "Tell your friend to go easy on the wine. Her last few messages were a little hard to decipher."

After that, he made sure to leave the temple very quickly. He didn't notice until he was halfway back on the street, that he was still holding onto Noelle. And her forearm was sweaty. It had to be very sweaty for him to feel it through her fur AND the sleeve of her thick, wooly red robe. "Oh, sorry. Didn't notice." He let go of her right away.

"It's uh - it's okay." Upon inspecting her for the first time since they left, he noticed not just her arm was sweaty. Sweat drops trailed down the sides of her face, and a bright red glow coming from her face, made her more purple than blue around it's edges "How are you...how are you feeling?"

To soothe his passions, he consciously tensed up his chest and took a deep breath, keeping his chest tense all the way through. Which relaxed him exactly the way he needed to. There just was something about this woman's voice, appearance and demeanour that made his armor feel tight and stuffy in all the wrong places. The images and impressions she conjured up in him - he dreaded to think about them, but he couldn't stop himself all the same.

He was glad this was over. He was honest with Noelle and mumbled the first thing that came to mind: "I feel like taking a shower." He was happy about every metre that they got away from the temple, and yet still, for half the way back to the blacksmith, that slight itch or tickle wouldn't leave his stomach.

"Same here." On their way back, none wanted to talk too much. Not until the awkwardness wore off a little. They both stared off in opposite directions, fixating on the rough walls, the anachronistic glass windows the houses had in this area. Focusing on what they had heard. Kris was mostly in the Drakeforger's focus, but even Noelle got swept up in...whatever that was.

This dragon deity certainly shouldn't have affected either of them as much as she did. What was wrong with them? Well, now her mind was clear again. And they hadn't yet reached their friends. She had something on her mind to further distract Kris with. "Say, Kris."

"Mhm?"

"You've been very different lately...since you know, the dark world. Not just today, in general. You're on good terms with Susie all of a sudden..." Debatable. "...then you just work together with Berdly like it's nothing. And then there's Ralsei. You two seem so close. Closer than you are with almost anyone. And you've only known him for two days?"

"Yes? So?" She was confused as to how oblivious he was to it.

"I mean...it's crazy, isn't it? He's a complete stranger and you're treating him like..." She paused, for lack of finding the right words. "I don't know. It's just that lately, you're like a whole different person. What happened to old you? You know, quiet you? The Kris I know? The same you who would get an infection because he got injured and wouldn't tell anyone until it's too late. What happened to that Kris?"

"I'm right here."

"No you're not." His dismissive attitude only got her more agitated. "First you're making friends, then there's the art thing you kept from me all this time." As well as everyone else except Asriel and maybe his Mom, if she went through his stuff while he wasn't looking. "Then you're saying all these things to those Susies, and Ralsei - you're like a normal person around him. All personal and commanding and interested in things. You're never like this around me. If there's always been this side to you and you just never showed me - look at me, when I'm talking to you!"

Now with a certain amount of force, she held him in place and wound his bangs back around his ears so she could see his eyes. "You're doing it again. Even here, when it's the two of us, you start hiding that side of you. It feels like you're shutting me out and I don't understand why. Why do I deserve this? I'm not sure what about you to believe anymore. Which Kris is the real Kris? Quiet Kris or outgoing Kris?"

Once she was done, he broke free of her grip and went back to moving forward, even though he did so at a much slower pace. "I'm 'outgoing', because I have to be. The way I am around you, that's the real me. And I'm like that around you, because I can trust you to be understanding with that. Unless I'm at home - or at least I feel like I am, I want to keep to myself and focus on what I'm going to do when I'm on my own again. I don't have to worry about letting something slip and maybe they can somehow 'read' my face while I do and that way, they find out more and...it's stuff like the Susies that I'm afraid of coming out."

He paused and reconsidered what she might have thought. "Mostly it's the Susies. Reason I started telling Berdly and Susie about it, at least the art, is because Berdly basically already knew. There's this book Asriel borrowed from the library years ago and never brought back. He didn't bring it back, because I started reading and using it. And whenever you're not there - it's - generally when no-one else is listening, he brings it up. All the time. It used to be that I could just say he's making assumptions, but then we were in the dark world and we were attacked by a giant Susie. At that point, what secret was there left to keep?"

"But why didn't you show me any of them? I'm not just anyone from school, right?"

"And then you would have told someone else and then they would have told someone else..."

"You don't know that. You could have just trusted me to keep it to myself."

He stopped and just stared at her for a while. "That's a bad idea. As soon as you have to rely on someone not to do something, that's when they do it. Dad did that, look at him now."

When he was already speeding up to get back to the others, Noelle stayed, because she just connected the dots. "Wait...that's what that earlier was about? That's why you were so scared? Even now, you don't really trust me one bit, do you? You seriously think I'd just tattle on you to Susie!"

When he turned her way again, she couldn't see the faintest hint of guilt or remorse on how his mouth was angled. "Well...yes?"

She snorted, but when thinking about it again, couldn't help but smile. "Unbelievable." When she really thought about it, if it was all true, and he didn't trust her one bit, he wouldn't have been bold enough to outright tell her so just now. At least now, she was keeping up with him, and it wasn't that far anymore either. Kris had some nerve. But now at least she knew. Now it all made sense to her. She was going to prove to him, that he could trust her with this. Then maybe, they would all see more of outgoing Kris in the light world as well.