It had been a few days since Claudia had started going with them to teach Callum some primal magic. It was getting difficult since neither of them trusted her, and she still couldn't have a conversation with Rayla. Well, at least one where she didn't mention the betrayal.

They had stopped for the night, making sure to choose an area they wouldn't be seen easily. It was a good area for Callum to continue working on the ice spell, though he'd probably be doing that in the morning when they were leaving.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of that ice spell." Callum commented.

"Yeah." Claudia agreed, "Maybe I'll teach you one of the other spells tomorrow."

"Really?" He asked, "That'd be great!"

Rayla approached them, sitting down next to Callum and staring at Claudia, "Yeah, then you could leave."

Claudia felt her heart sink a little at this comment, though ignoring it as she hesitantly replied, "Yeah. I could."

Though, she did add, quietly, "If you could protect Callum..."

She wasn't sure if Rayla heard it, as she didn't mention it. She mostly just kept staring at Claudia. So she stared back.

"Well, uh," Callum interrupted, "About that. Are you going to be able to get back on your own?"

A part of her wanted to say 'no', but it's not like she knew that for a fact. She got pretty far on her own, and might have even been able to continue if she hadn't convince them to let her travel with them for awhile.

She didn't want to lie, either, even though it could help her travel with them, "Uh... Probably."

"Probably?" Callum questioned, a little bit concerned.

"Yeah. I think I can do it."

"Maybe I should start teaching you how to do primal magic without a primal stone or something. I mean, I did break yours..."

"You never did tell me that story." Claudia said, "Actually, you didn't tell me a lot of stories."

"Oh, yeah. Maybe we'll do that sometime."

Rayla leaned in a bit closer to Callum, and whispered, "And maybe she can start teaching you the other spells so she can leave?" Rayla whispered, "You know, since we can't trust her?"

Claudia pretended she didn't here that, since Rayla was 'polite' enough to whisper. Callum glanced at her, and she smiled obliviously, even if she wasn't.

"Maybe it was a one time thing?" Callum whispered back, "I mean we can't just leave her. What if she gets caught?"

"She's the one who followed us here." Rayla pointed out, "And I'm sure she'll be fine. But she was going to kidnap you, Ezran and Zym last time, remember?"

Claudia wanted to add in that it was Soren's idea and she suggested they actually help them, anyway, insteading of just pretending to because it just kinda made more sense. But she didn't. Rayla wouldn't believe her, anyway.

She stood up, not particularly feeling up to listening to their conversation. Claudia walked over towards Zym and sat down, letting them talk privately. She was far away enough so that they probably didn't even have to whisper.

"Hello." She smiled, "What are you up to?"

Zym made cute little noises, as though he was attempting to tell her, but Ez was the one who could talk to animals. Claudia sighed. It would have been great if Ezran was here with them.

"You miss Ezran too, don't you?" She asked, gently petting the dragon, "Maybe it's because he let me talk to him, or how he helped me find what I needed to have Soren but he didn't seem that mad at me about the betrayal or the dragon thing."

He looked up Claudia, confused.

"Kind of like you. But it's not like you could talk to Callum. It's really been really difficult trying to get them to trust me. I don't know how to do it. And... I don't have Soren."

Not having Soren around, now that was strange. It wasn't like she could go and ask him for suggestions, even if his answer was usually 'muscle'. It was kind of like what her mom told her, that she and Soren needed each other.

Claudia stared into the distant for a moment, before turning back towards Zym, "He even suggested that I come here." She added, "So I could help protect Callum. And that maybe me and Rayla could still be friends, though somehow I don't think that's going to happen."

"What about you?" She asked him, "Are you my friend?"

Zym made more cute noises, which she assumed might mean 'yes'.

"You are so cute." She reminded him. She was going to give him some more compliments, but she was interrupted by Rayla walking over and taking him out of her hands.

"Hey!"

Callum walked over, too. He stood near Rayla, and honestly looked a little confused, "Rayla? What's going on?"

"She was holding Zym," Rayla explained, "I know she's up to something, Callum. I'm sure you do, too."

"Well, maybe she is." Callum said, "But it kinda just looked like she was cuddling him."

"I doubt it." Rayla replied, "We can't trust her, and we can't let her near Zym."

Claudia sighed, and stood up, "You know, you could just ask me not to hold him."

"Yeah, exactly." Callum agreed, "We can ask her first."

Rayla turned towards Claudia, "Fine. Could you stay away from Zym, as we can't trust you not to steal him?"

Her tone was pretty sarcastic, which wasn't very nice. It was only the one time she betrayed them, and she didn't even want to.

"Yeah, fine." She agreed relunctantly, "But is it really fair to Zym? Who is going to tell him how cute he is?"

Zym made cute noises which she chose to take as a 'She's right. I am small and squishy', though she was probably way off.

Rayla glanced at Callum, "Well, you can do that, right?"

"I guess."

Claudia sighed as they walked away. Zym seemed like he was her friend, and she didn't have a lot of people right now. Soren was going home with Ezran, and she really couldn't tell if Callum trusted her.

Rayla didn't want her to interact with Zym, and Claudia could understand that. But it was still disappointing. Maybe she'd be able to convince them, soon, and then she'd be able to talk to Zym again.

Maybe she'd even be able to talk to Rayla again.

A/N: I am very fond of comments. I love them.

also I am really procrastinating on Callum learning those spells. I have yet to come up with anything for him to learn.