Claudia was starting to find it was a lot easier to have a conversation with Callum than it was with Rayla. It was probably because he knew her, or maybe because of how long he knew her. I mean, she had only betrayed him that one time.

Unless you counted that one time she and Soren tried helped Ezran scare him. But to be fair, Ez really wanted to surprise him. And Claudia, being a younger sibling, understood. Because she understood, she even convinced Soren to help.

Though, as it turns out, you really can't sneak up on Callum. If he was at all startled, it was because he didn't expect Soren and Claudia to be there.

Callum didn't really particularly appreciate the gesture, kind of in a 'you just betrayed me by doing this' way. She didn't think he was serious, but you never really know.

But since Ezran wasn't able to sneak up on his older brother, Claudia helped him sneak up on hers.

It was a little disappointing Ezran wasn't going with them.

Another thing that made it easier to talk to Callum was that even if he didn't trust her, it wasn't that noticeable. It seemed like they were a little more distant than they used to be, but it wasn't like with Rayla.

Sometimes, she wasn't sure why she wanted Rayla to trust her. Claudia hadn't really talked to her a lot in the past few days, she didn't feel like anyone saying she was going to betray them again.

It frustrated her a little, honestly. Rayla was very clear about how she wanted her to teach Callum the primal magic she knew and leave.

Claudia tried to think of the conversations she and Rayla had, the ones that made her consider actually going with them. The ones where she trusted Callum and Ezran's choice in friends. Or how afterwards, Rayla sat near her and smiled at her.

But it all seemed weird now, like maybe that Rayla was an illusion, like the ones that the person who owned the moon phoenix made. But those mostly seemed to involve worms, or giant spiders.

Rayla didn't like like her, and she didn't trust her. But when she thought about it, she thought she might even understand. She wanted to protect her friends, and that was a similarity they had.

That was why Claudia had come here, and that's why she followed them after they didn't let her go with them. That was the reason she had to trust Rayla. Maybe it'd be the reason Rayla had to trust her.

"Come on." Rayla said, which seemed to be something she was fond of.

Claudia and Callum walked a little bit faster to keep up with her, though it was difficult with how fast she was going. Rayla seemed to be naturally faster than them regardless of if she was using it for fighting. It was impressive, but still relatively annoying.

She sighed, "So, Callum. You can only do sky primal magic, right?"

"Yeah?" He turned to Claudia, still attempting to keep up with Rayla.

"Have you thought of which one you want to learn next?" Claudia asked, "Like, are you going to learn moon magic, too? Or maybe ocean? Or do you just wanna stick with sky?"

"I hadn't really thought about it." Callum said, he had just been happy to be able to do magic again, and he hadn't really been thinking about if he was going to learn the other ones, if he could.

"Well, you should, I mean, there's so many things you could do." She smiled, "And if you're going to learn some magic, this is probably one of the best places to do it."

"Yeah, maybe. Do you think I can even learn multiple?"

"Sure. Why wouldn't you be able to?" She asked, "I think if anyone can learn multiple primal sources, it's probably you."

Callum smiled briefly, "Thanks, Claudia."

"On another topic..." Claudia smiled, "Did I ever tell you about that time Soren tried to fight a moon moth?"

Rayla watched while Claudia talked wtih Callum, keeping an eye on Claudia. She was starting to think Callum might be starting to trust her again.

She could understand why, considering they had been friends for years and all that, and Claudia still talked to him like a friend, almost like she hadn't betrayed him at all.

They were laughing at one of the stories Claudia was telling, probably being louder than they should be. It was annoying how Claudia kept acting like she was his friend, like she wasn't going to betray him again.

It seemed like she was the only one who was focused on bringing Zym back to his mom. She walked faster, making sure she could see the baby dragon and Callum.

Claudia walked very casually alongside Callum, ignoring the fact she betrayed him. Callum didn't seem concerned that she might do it again, and that was concerning.

They stopped trying to keep up with her for a few minutes, seemingly distracted with their conversation, so she turned around to remind them, "Callum, come on."

"Oh, right." He said, walking faster. Claudia did, too, for some reason. She seemed intent on going with them, and though Rayla wasn't sure why yet, she assumed it had something to do with betraying Callum and taking him home, and stealing Zym.

Though, Zym seemed to like Claudia, in a way. Maybe because he hadn't known Claudia as long and she was nice to him, despite what she said about him while he was an egg.

"So, how far away are we from Zym's mom?"

"Well..." Rayla turned towards them, "Pretty far. And there's a chance we might run into some elves on the way."

"Oh. That's fun." Callum commented, sarcastically.

"Yep." She turned away from them, and continued walking.

A/N: is anyone really prepared for what I have planned? I guess I'l find out, like maybe 10? 20? updates later? provided I don't end up giving up on this one.