There's nothing weirder, Krel decides, then seeing a teacher outside of school. Weirdest of all is eating breakfast with a teacher, especially when that teacher is your gym coach and your friend's… father? Krel is kind of unclear on that part.

Coach Lawrence slides a glass of brown goop in front of Krel. He shoves a similar pink one in front of Toby, and an off-white one for Steve. Krel tries to hide his disgust as he moves the straw around and leaves a slowly filling gap in its place.

"Protein shakes!" Coach declares. Krel has decided that human names are weird, but he's also decided not to say that out loud in case someone gets offended. "You're growing boys! Gotta build your muscles! Eh, especially you, Tarron."

"Gee, thanks," says Krel flatly.

Coach pats him on the head. Toby takes a tentative sip of his, then his face lights up and he starts drinking with fervour. Steve drags his glass to him. "Thanks, Dad. Coach! Coach-Dad!"

"I do not understand," says Krel when Coach mumbles something about omelettes and leaves the room. "Is Coach Lawrence your father or not?"

Steve's cheeks turn pink, an amusing human affliction that Krel's learned by now is called blushing and happens when humans are embarrassed. "He's dating my mom. I dunno. He's not my biological dad."

"I think your relationship is cute," says Toby. Steve gives him a death glare and he shrinks. "Uh, in a totally manly way."

"Shut up, Domzalski," mutters Steve.

Krel glances towards Steve's kitchen, then lowers his voice. "So, what's the plan? I hate to say it, but Trollmarket's not going to hold the Green Knight for long."

"We have to keep training to be ready," says Toby. Then he pauses and crinkles his nose. "Oh, man, I sound like Jimbo."

"I feel like your Jimbo was much better at this than we are," Krel says. He stirs his protein shake, then takes a sip. It's not as awful as it looks, and it'd be rude not to drink it, so he does.

"Kids!" yells Coach from the other room. "Whaddya want in your omelettes?"

"Bacon and cheese," calls Steve.

"Uh, mushrooms, bacon… cheese?" Toby says.

"What is an omelette?" Krel asks.

Steve opens his mouth to explain, then shakes his head and adds to Coach, "Krel will have the same as me!"

"I can't wait to tell Nimue how we kicked the Green Knight's butt yesterday," says Toby.

"We didn't," says Krel. "We got lucky. And hurt. We all got hurt."

Steve's eyes widen and he draws his hand rapidly across his neck twice. "Ix-nay on the urt-hay in front of Coach."

Krel has no idea what that's supposed to mean. "What is an ix-nay and an urt-hay? Anyway, I'm not a soolian. Your not-dad is in the other room."

"And he'll hear you," hisses Steve.

"You shouldn't keep it a secret," says Toby. "Like, I get why Krel isn't telling Aja, but it isn't like Coach is busy. Trust me, keeping this kind of stuff a secret from parents doesn't work very well. I've already told Nana."

"I haven't even had the chance to explain the Creepslayerz thing to him," Steve mutters. "How am I supposed to explain all this?"

"You should at least tell him about, you know, the end of the world and the knights, if not the magic," says Toby.

"Maybe," says Steve.

Coach chooses that moment to walk back in with two plates. He puts one in front of Steve and the other in front of Krel. "Got yours coming right up, Domzalski."

"Thanks, Coach," says Toby.

Krel pokes his – omelette? – with a fork. He takes a bite. It tastes good, to his mild surprise. He never expected Coach to be able to cook. Coach clears his throat.

"You know you can tell me anything, Steve," he says earnestly. "If there's – anything on your mind."

Steve looks away. "Yeah, sure, Coach. I know."

Coach sighs and leaves the room. Krel guesses he heard most if not all of their conversation. Steve focuses his attention on his omelette. Krel shrugs and continues eating his. It's not his business whether Steve tells his not-dad. Anyway, he has no right to tell Steve who to tell about this, since Krel isn't telling any of his family back home.

"Coach is like a dad to me," Steve tells them, loud enough that there's no way Coach won't hear it. "That's why I can't tell him about this. I don't want him to get hurt."

"We understand," Krel says. Toby nods.

"I hope he does," Steve mumbles.

After breakfast, they start for Douxie's. They walk, because it might be their only chance to walk safely for a while. Once the Knight gets out again, the Vespa will be the safest choice. Krel still isn't sure how he feels about the Vespa or Steve's driving. He thinks he'd feel safer if he got to drive instead.

"So we need to make it seem like we totally didn't get our butts kicked," says Toby. "We need to at least look competent."

"Why?" says Krel. "So we can look stupid when it turns out we really aren't competent? Because we're not."

"Fake it till you make it!" Toby enthuses.

"That sounds like a terrible idea."

Toby preens. "That's how I became a director, my dear DJ Kleb."

"We should make another movie," says Steve. "This time I can be the star. Krel can have a cameo."

"No way," Krel scoffs. "If anything, you would have the cam-i-oh. We have to make the prequel for Kleb or Alive."

"Actually, we have to do the sequels first," says Toby. "We'll see if there's room for you, Steve. Hey, maybe you can be DJ Kleb's sidekick."

"Sidekick!"

"Oh, I like the sound of that."

Toby laughs. Krel shoots Steve a teasing grin, and his friend scowls at him. Krel knows it's mostly joking. He's about to add to the fire, because it's fun, when he hears the sound of a blaster-shot. He has a split second to panic when Steve's eyes widen and he yanks Krel to his chest and dives. The shot hits where they had been walking as Krel and Steve land in the grass. Toby has stumbled into the street.

"Are you okay?" Steve asks.

"Seklos and Gaylen!" Krel manages. "Someone just shot at us!"

A person lands on the sidewalk. They have an exosuit Krel recognises as industry standard for the quadrant of the galaxy Akiridion-5 is in – not Akiridion but the kind of thing you could buy at an unaffiliated outpost nearby. The suit covers most of their body, their long limbs and their thin tail, but Krel can see curled antennae poking out of the top. They adjust their blaster and tap the side of their helmet. The screen vanishes and the life-form smiles.

"Correction," they say. "I shot at you, Krel Tarron."

"Bad alien!" Toby squeaks.

"Not another bounty hunter," Krel groans. He waves his hands in front of him. "Morando is dead! There's no more bounty!"

"Oh, I'm sure plenty of people would pay me good money for your head on a pike, your highness," the bounty hunter replaces the screen of their helmet and aims their blaster. "I'll settle for your core."

"We should have taken the Vespa!" Steve cries.

"Run!" Krel exclaims. There's no way they'll be able to fight off a bounty hunter right now, not when all three of them are still injured from yesterday night's fight with the Green Knight. Steve's not even supposed to be running according to Barbara, but they don't have much of a choice. The bounty hunter fires several shots after them as they run. Krel turns and tries to fire back shots with his serrator, but she leaps and lands in front of them.

"Oh, no," manages Toby. The bounty hunter's hand shoots out and grabs Krel by the neck – why is it always his neck!? – and drags him away from his friends.

Steve's face twists into protective fury. "Hey! Don't touch him!"

He whips out his own serrator, activates it as a sword, and runs at the bounty hunter. He brings it down on their arm, probably just trying to get them to let Krel go, but manages to cut clean through the thin limb. Krel stumbles away from the detached arm. Steve looks sick.

"Oh my gosh," Toby blurts. "You just cut off its arm!"

"I didn't mean to!" Steve shrieks.

The bounty hunter growls and holds out the upper half of their arm. There's a disgusting squelching noise, and a new arm grows from the bloody stump. The three of them watch in horrified awe. Steve turns and retches in the bushes.

"Nice try," the bounty hunter says.

"Go, go, go!" yells Toby. They sprint across the street. Krel can see the magic shop just ahead. If they get there, Douxie can put up the magic force-field and they'll be safe.

Several more blaster shots just barely miss them. They shove the doors open and run inside the shop and barricade the entrance.

"DOUXIE!" Krel shouts. "HELP!"

"Get back!" snaps a voice that most definitely does not belong to Douxie. Krel and his friends scramble away from the door as a blond man in a t-shirt and jeans storms to the door and uses his finger to draw a symbol on the glass. It lights up, and then the barrier outside lights up. The bounty hunter leaps right into it and hisses.

"What in the name of Camelot is that?" the man bites out, green eyes darting between them. They stare at him with wide eyes. Steve is clutching his side. Toby is leaning on his knees. The man sighs. "Don't tell me. You're Douxie's new friends."

They nod mutely.

"Come downstairs," he says. They follow him into the library. He walks past Archie and gives the cat a scratch on the head, then puts a hand to the back wall. It sinks into the floor to reveal another room.

"How many secret doors are there here?" Steve whispers to Krel and Toby.

"Only three," calls the man. "Come along."

The room looks like a chemistry lab, except Krel's never been in a chemistry lab that had things like devil's nettle and sorcerer's violet. Usually labs have proper chemicals in them. The man grabs several bottles of the oddly named ingredients and sets them on a table, then sets a large pot on a burner.

"Extra-terrestrials," he grumbles. "When I was your age, we never had issues with extra-terrestrials. Really is the end times."

"Sorry?" says Krel.

The man glances at him. "You must be Krel, then. Allergic to any herbs?"

"Uh…"

"You wouldn't know, huh?" mutters the man. He waves a hand at Krel and mumbles something. Words appear in front of him, and Krel reaches out to touch them. They vanish, but the man nods. "Right, right. Good."

"Who are you, exactly?" asks Toby. "No offence."

"Name's Mort," the man says. "Douxie's probably mentioned me. I'm his uncle."

"You don't look anything like Douxie," scoffs Steve. "You look more like me than like Douxie."

"I'm not really his uncle by blood," says Mort. "I just took him in after his parents – well, you know."

Toby blinks. Krel and Steve exchange surprised looks.

"Douxie's parents died?" Toby finally asks when neither of them do.

"He hasn't told you yet?" Mort asks. They shake their heads. Mort sighs and turns back to whatever he's making, dumping a spoonful of one of the ingredients into the pot. "Yeah. I've raised him practically since he was a baby. His mum and dad – well, official story is that they died in a gas leak accident."

"The official story?" Toby prompts slowly.

"The unofficial story – that is, the true one – is that they were murdered." Mort punctuates this by dropping a leaf in the pot. Purple flames flare up. Krel and his friends flinch back, but Mort is unaffected. "As far as wizarding neighbourhoods go, they lived in a pretty bad one. I knew his dad, so I took him in and left for the States. Not the best country out there, but, hey. Arcadia's bursting with magical energy. Great place to start a shop. Always wanted a shop."

"Poor Douxie," mumbles Toby. "I know what it's like to grow up with dead parents."

Mort glances at him. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I didn't know that," Krel says softly. Why didn't he know that? He knows Toby lives with his grandmother, with no parents in sight. He should have known that.

Toby shrugs. "I hadn't told you yet. They went on a cruise when I was two and, uh, didn't make it back."

Krel's not sure what to say, so he just puts a hand on his friend's shoulder. Toby offers him a smile.

"Well, on that depressing note." Mort waves a hand over the pot, then snaps at Krel. "Shirt off, please, Krel."

"Uh, why?"

"The potion needs skin to work correctly, child," he says.

"Potion?"

"Oh my gosh!" Toby exclaims. "Are you going to turn Krel into a toad?"

"What!?" Krel yelps.

"What? No, why would I – of course I'm not going to turn him into a toad," says Mort. "This is an advanced cloaking spell designed to hide his core. You are Akiridion, yes? If I have that wrong I'm going to need to start all over."

"I am Akiridion," Krel confirms warily. "Hide my core?"

"Well, presumably that's how this… creature found you," says Mort. "Akiridion life cores are far too easy to track."

"How does he know that?" Toby murmurs in awe.

"I'm well-read," says Mort. "Shirt, please. Hop to it before the potion gets cold."

Krel reasons that Douxie trusts him, so that should be reason enough for Krel to trust him, and he tugs off his t-shirt. Mort dips his fingers in the potion and traces a symbol onto Krel's chest, right above his core, hidden beneath the skin of his human disguise. Or something. Krel doesn't know exactly how the human disguise works with his core. The potion is hot on his skin, and as Krel watches, the glowing purple liquid seeps into his skin and disappears, leaving a faint violet mark not unlike a bruise.

"Creepy," says Steve.

"This should last a fortnight, if you need it that long," Mort says. "If you need it longer, I'll have to redo it, but that should give you enough time to ensure that some rumours get out that you've left the planet or something. As for this creature… well, it's already found you, but hopefully it doesn't know where you live."

Krel pulls his shirt back on. "I hope not."

"Maybe we should call Aja and make sure Morando's bounty has been taken off the intergalactic black market or whatever," says Steve.

As much as Krel doesn't want to call his sister for help, he has to admit Steve has a point. "Alright. We can do that tonight."

"In the meantime," says Mort. "I believe Nimue wanted to see the two of you, Toby, Krel. As for you, Steve, I'd like to chat with you about your training."

Steve stands up straighter. Toby gives Krel a distressed look that probably mirrors Krel's own. Nimue wanting to see them cannot be a good thing.

"She did say ASAP," adds Mort. "Best not to keep the lady waiting. She can and will take it out on you in training."

"Klebtastic," Krel mutters.

Training with Nimue went as well as Krel had expected. She did not believe them when they tried to tell her how well they did against the Green Knight in Trollmarket. Then she proceeded to pummel them in training. Krel is sore all over and he hates it. There's a reason he didn't get into combat training on Akiridion-5.

They're staying at Krel's house tonight, partially because it'll be easier to call Aja from there and partially because apparently it's his turn on the rotation Toby has set up. Mort sneaks them out through the back and Toby leads them into the sewers to avoid the bounty hunter.

"It's not so bad," he says. Steve has pulled his shirt up to cover his nose. Krel is used to Stuart by now, so he isn't too bothered. "Aaarrrgghh! and I travel this way all the time during the day."

"Makes sense," says Krel. He still thinks it's unfortunate that trolls can't go in sunlight.

Toby uses his hammer to levitate to the manhole cover. He lifts it, looks around, then climbs out and waves his hand for Steve and Krel to join him. Then, evidently realising neither Krel nor Steve have something to levitate with, drops his war-hammer back in for them. They dart into Krel's house and into the mothership as quickly as possible. Krel makes sure to lock it behind them. The last thing he wants is for the bounty hunter to attack them in the middle of the night.

"Come on," he says. "Let's go call my sister."

She picks up almost immediately after he calls her, grinning brightly at him through the screen. "Little brother! And Steve and Toby!"

"Uh, hi, Aja," says Krel.

She points at him accusingly. "You haven't been calling."

"I've been, uh, busy," he says, which isn't actually a lie, it just leaves out the truth he doesn't want her to know.

Her eyes land on his brace and her brow furrows. "What is that on your arm?"

Krel winces. "It's a brace. I, uh, hurt my wrist. I – tripped?"

"He's really clumsy," Toby adds. "Which – you probably know. Because you grew up with him."

She still looks sceptical, but she accepts the lie. "I leave you alone for less than a parson and you're already hurt."

Krel laughs awkwardly. "You know, accidents happen. But that's not why I'm calling."

"Did you make sure the bounty was taken off of you and Krel?" Toby asks.

"Of course," says Aja.

"Are you sure?" asks Steve. "Not that we doubt you! But we got attacked this morning by a bounty hunter after Krel."

Aja gasps. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine," says Krel. "We didn't get hurt."

"By the bounty hunter," Steve mutters under his breath.

"What was that?" says Aja.

"Nothing!" Steve exclaims. "Nothing, nothing at all."

"What did the bounty hunter look like?" Aja asks. "I'll see if I can find any information on them."

"Uh, tall," says Toby. "Antennae. Steve cut off its arm and its arm grew back."

"Steve cut off their arm!?"

"It was an accident!"

"Well, limb generation definitely narrows it down," says Aja. "Let's see… aha. Is this the one?"

She swipes an image onto the screen for them. Krel nods. "That's the one."

"Her name's Kyniga," says Aja. "She's a well-known Anaptian bounty hunter. Looks like she's late to the party. Didn't you tell her there's no bounty?"

"Uh, she said plenty of people would pay her good money for my head," says Krel with a grimace, "but she'll settle for my core."

"Lively," mutters Aja. "Do you want me to come to Earth?"

"No, no," says Krel. "You have your… queen stuff."

"Do you want me to send Varvatos or Zadra?"

Krel does actually think about this, but Varvatos or Zadra would surely tell Aja about the Green Knight. "That's alright. We can handle it."

"Don't worry, my warrior princess," says Steve, trying his best to look cool. Krel thinks he looks stupid. "Krel's got a Creepslayer and Trollhunter looking after him. We won't let him get hurt."

"Again," says Toby.

"Exactly!"

"Everything is under control," Krel insists. "You worry too much, Aja. It's just one bounty hunter."

"It only takes one bounty hunter to kill you," says Aja.

"We've got this, Aja," says Steve. "Promise."

"If you insist." Aja swipes the image of the bounty hunter away. "Just be careful."

"We will," says Krel. "Tell Eli we say hello."

She nods. "Be safe."

The screen flickers dark, then glitches and returns to normal. Krel sighs.

"While we're here I should start fixing things up." He finally turns off the transduction effect and stretches his arms. "It would be nice to have at least some things working."

"We can help!" Toby says excitedly. "Oh, man, I've always wanted to help fix an alien spaceship!"

Krel laughs. "Well, you can't make it worse. Come on."

They don't get a lot done on the ship before they decide to get some sleep. It's been a long day – which, really, all the days have felt incredibly long and full of violence since Aja left. Krel had been hoping they'd get at least one free day, what with the Green Knight trapped in Trollmarket, but unfortunately, the universe hates him.

Krel has another dream that night – the first in a couple of days. It's the same as always. Frantically searching in the forest, finding the thing, waking up. The waking up part is the only thing different, but that's because Steve whacks him with a pillow and grumbles that he couldn't sleep with the light.

They leave for Douxie's – Mort's? – after breakfast. Krel's somewhat glad that Lucy has forgone the whole bacon and eggs thing for pancakes, which at least fall off the ceiling. Krel is still eating his last pancake as they walk.

"So Mort's going to train you?" Toby asks Steve.

"Yep," he says. "We start Monday. Haha, I am going to be a wizard."

"Aren't you already a wizard?" says Krel. "You have the magic. Is a wizard only a trained magic user?"

Steve frowns. "You know, I don't actually know."

"Are you going to get a familiar?" Toby exclaims. "Your own talking cat!"

"Mom is allergic to cats," says Steve. "I can't get a cat."

"Get a hypoallergenic talking cat," offers Toby. "One of those hairless kinds."

Steve crinkles his nose. "I don't think I want a cat, anyway. I'd rather have a dog familiar."

"Well, don't tell that to Archie," says Toby. "Would having a familiar make you a Disney princess?"

Krel tries to imagine Steve with a familiar, but he can only think of how many times Luug would bowl him over, which just makes him laugh. Steve rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Hey – you don't even know what a Disney princess is!"

"No," admits Krel, "but I just can't picture you with a small, talking animal following you around."

"We'll have to show you all the human culture you've missed out on," says Toby. "After we save the world, of course."

"As long as there isn't another apocalypse waiting after this one," adds Steve.

Toby grimaces. "We're getting like an apocalypse a month at this rate."

"You know, most planets only get one apocalypse and then they're destroyed," Krel points out. "At least Earth is still here."

"There's the optimism we need!" Toby says.

Krel shakes his head and laughs again. Conversations like these remind him why he stayed on Earth with his friends. He's never had friends before. He didn't know how much he was missing.

Then, to ruin the beautiful morning, a blaster shot hits in front of them, leaving a scorch mark on the ground.

"Not again," Krel groans.

They spin around to face the bounty hunter – what did Aja call her? Kyniga. She stalks forward calmly, as if she knows all three of them stand no chance against her. She's right, of course, but they should at least pretend they think they can beat her. Krel activates his serrator. Beside him, Steve does the same and Toby activates his war-hammer.

"It'll be a pity if I must kill your puny human protectors," says Kyniga. "Such a pitiful race."

"Hey!" Steve snaps. "We're not pitiful! Or puny!"

"Compared to an Anaptian, you really are," Krel admits.

"Alright, but we beat Gunmar and we beat Morando, who were both significantly larger than us," Toby boasts. "You don't stand a chance, lady!"

She chuckles lowly. "We'll see about that."

She holsters her blaster and pulls out twin swords instead. Krel and his friends have proven they can't fight a crazy woman with one sword, let alone two, so he imagines this is going to end terribly. She runs at them, and Krel and Toby dive out of the way. Steve raises his serrator shield and skids backwards.

"Steve, you're injured!" Toby yells as a reminder.

"So?" Steve grunts. "I'm still going to beat her! I promised Aja I'd protect Krel."

"You have to be kidding me," says Krel.

Kyniga leaps forward and whips one of her sword towards Steve's legs. Krel darts forward the moment he sees her move and tackles Steve out of the way. Toby charges at her with a holler as Krel and Steve get back to their feet.

"I had her!"

"No, you didn't!"

Toby screams and goes flying over their heads into a shop window. It shatters and he falls right through. Krel winces. That's got to hurt. Then, before he can react, Steve is in front of him, holding back the bounty hunter's swords with his own.

"Run!" Steve snaps. "She's after you! Get to the shop!"

Krel doesn't want to leave his friends alone, but Steve's right. He nods, and takes off down the street, forcing himself not to look back. He just needs to make it to the shop and then they can figure out a plan.

Not looking back is a mistake. Assuming the sound of a blaster firing was from Steve fighting Kyniga is also a mistake. The blast hits him in the back. His vision goes dark, and when it returns, he's lying on the sidewalk, dazed. He tries to push himself to his feet, but the secton he moves his shoulders, pain erupts on his back – where the blast hit, probably – and he collapses back to the sidewalk.

Someone picks him up. Fuzzy as his head is, it takes him several sectons to realise it's the bounty hunter and not any of his friends.

"Oh, you will pay nicely," purrs Kyniga.

Oh, he shouldn't have told Aja they had it handled. They clearly do not have it handled. Krel tries to find the energy to fight back to release himself, but every movement sends burning spikes of pain to the wound on his back. Why hadn't he thought to de-activate the transduction effect before the fight? This human body is too fragile.

"Let him go!" Toby yells. Krel sees the blurry form of his friend rocketing towards them when the bounty hunter sighs and shrugs Krel off her shoulder to the ground. Krel gasps at the contact of the rough cement with his back, but it's brief and she pulls him to his feet. Then there's a blaster against his head. Toby stops and lands, stumbling, in front of them. Steve skids to a stop beside him.

"I'm sure you don't want to see your friend die," she says. "Who knows? Attack me again and I'll kill him now, but maybe if you leave me be, whoever I sell him to will let him live."

"We're not going to let you sell our friend!" Steve snaps. Krel isn't sure they can stop her. Steve's eyes dart to something behind them. He smiles. "You always leave your back exposed like that?"

"What?" Kyniga cuts herself off with a sharp gasp. Krel hears Mort's deep voice rumble something in another language, and Kyniga's grip on Krel vanishes and she drops. Krel wavers and nearly falls, but Mort catches him and turns him around.

"Hey, hey, look at me," he says. Krel tries to make eye contact, but Mort's face is indistinct and darkness is invading the corners of Krel's vision. "Krel. Stay awake for me. Krel."

Krel tries his best to fight his fading consciousness, blinking rapidly and glaring to try to get a sharper image of Mort in front of him. Mort says something else that Krel doesn't process.

"Don't tell Aja," he manages, before giving in and letting the world go black.

Krel wakes up to purring. He blinks groggily awake and sits up, doing his best not disturb Archie, curled up against his side on the unfamiliar bed. He'd been lying on his stomach, which he almost never does of his own volition because it's uncomfortable and weird to sleep like that.

"Krel! You're awake!" Toby exclaims. Krel looks over to see Toby turn in the chair from the desk at the other side of the room.

"What? He is?" Steve's voice says from the floor. He pulls himself to his feet using the edge of the bed. "Hey! He is!"

"How long was I out?" Krel asks warily.

"Only a few hours," says Toby. "Mort fixed you up with magic! Mostly."

Krel shifts – he can feel the mostly in the way his back stings with the movement, but it's not nearly as bad as he remembers. His chest feels oddly constricted, and a peek under his shirt explains it. There are bandages wrapped around his torso, probably for whatever injury he has on his back from the blaster.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Krel." Mort walks in the door with a cup of water that he sets on the bedside table. "Glad to see you awake."

"Thanks for saving me," says Krel. "And, uh, fixing me."

"Anytime," says Mort. "And you'll still want to take it easy for a little bit. I may be fairly good at healing burns, but I'm still no healer."

Krel nods. "What happened to Kyniga? The bounty hunter?"

"Got her tied up downstairs," says Mort. "Figured you'd know what to do with her."

"I guess send her to Akiridion-5," says Krel. "Let Aja figure it out."

Steve and Toby exchange grimaces.

"Here's to not telling Aja Krel got shot," says Steve. Krel and Toby nod emphatically.

"Boys," says Mort chidingly. His poorly hidden smile gives him away. "I know you're scared of Queen Aja, but don't you think it's important for her to know?"

"My sister does not need to know I was shot," says Krel. "Or almost captured. As far as she needs to know, you helped us capture the bounty hunter and we had it under control the whole time."

"She would kill me and Toby," says Steve. His face sinks into horror. "She might even break up with me. I promised to protect her little brother and failed. Oh, man, what if she breaks up with me?"

"She's not going to 'break up' with you," Krel scoffs. He pauses. "Well. Over this, maybe. But since we're not telling her, she won't."

Mort shakes his head. "Alright, do what you want. Douxie's bringing lunch back from Benoit's. I'll text him to make sure he knows Krel's awake. When you feel up to it, I'll drive you wherever it is you need to go to get the bounty hunter to your planet."

"Thank you," says Krel.

Mort nods and leaves the room again. Archie yawns, relocates to Krel's lap, and immediately goes back to sleep. Toby rolls his chair over closer to Krel, and Steve sits on the bed with him. He points at Krel threateningly.

"If you don't stop almost dying, I'm going to kill you myself, buttsnack," he says, which Krel is pretty sure is Steve-talk for, "Please keep yourself safer."

"It's your turn next," Krel jokes.

"Exactly!" Then Steve realises what he said. "No! It's no one's turn next!"

Krel and Toby both laugh. Steve makes a frustrated noise, which only serves to make them laugh harder, until Archie opens one eye to glare at Krel and says, "Will you please stop that so I can sleep? Thank you."

Krel opens his mouth to respond, but the cat is asleep again.

"No use," says Toby. "If a cat decides you're their bed, it's all over. You're stuck. Guess it's the same rules for familiars, too."

"That's strange," says Krel.

Toby shrugs. "Cats, man."

"This is why I want a dog familiar," mutters Steve.

Archie wakes up again specifically to give Steve an offended glare, before standing, stretching, and purposefully rearranging himself so his back is turned to Steve when he lays down again. Krel laughs again. Archie glares at him, too, so he stops.

"Thanks for trying to protect me," Krel tells his friends.

"What are friends for, man?" says Toby. "We've got your back. Even Steve."

"It's for Aja," Steve protests. Maybe a few weeks ago Krel would have believed that, but by now he's pretty sure he knows better. This is confirmed when Steve softens and looks away. "But… you're welcome."

Yeah. Krel is glad to have friends.