They didn't immediately find Claudia, which worried Rayla.

"She probably ran off with Zym." She said, as they walked around, "I told you we can't trust her."

"I know. But maybe we can." Callum replied. He wasn't that sure about it right now, but she sounded so... worried. Like she wanted to make sure Rayla was okay, too, even if they didn't get along.

"There's no way we'd be able to trust her, we can't even find her."

It was getting late, which was making it more difficult to see. Rayla had a point, they couldn't even find her. If she ran off with Zym today, they might not be able to get Zym back.

Callum sighed, "There's no way we're going to find her tonight."

"No, there isn't." Rayla agreed, "No way you're going to find her. You stay here."

"You're going after her?"

"She has Zym. I have to. Just... Stay here, maybe more over there where no one can see you." Rayla gestured, "Just stay."

"Okay... Just be careful."

Oh no, foiled again. She thought, though it wasn't really the time for that.

Claudia stopped to catch her breath, briefly, before continuing to keep moving. Zym moved around in her arms, wanting to get out.

"I know." She told the baby dragon, "You'll be able to walk around soon, okay? I just need to find somewhere... safer."

It had been several hours since they had ran into elves and unfortunately gotten separated. She had managed to outrun those elves, somehow, but mostly because she kept moving.

Claudia didn't know if they were keeping an eye out for her, but since she was a human and she wasn't supposed to be here, it seemed possible.

She didn't know if Callum was able to stop them with the ice spell, either. Claudia was starting to worry, they hadn't caught up yet. Maybe she went too far, but she didn't think she did.

With how late it was, she was starting to have trouble seeing, but it looked like... There might be some sort of cave up ahead. Claudia approached it, curious.

"That's perfect." Claudia said, "Okay, I'm going to set you down now, but you have to stay close."

Zym made noises in response. Claudia set him down and pointed out her hand. She turned on her light, allowing her to see inside the cave.

"Come on." She smiled at Zym, walking inside the cave. Zym followed her into the cave, running after her. It was probably nice for Zym to finally get to run around.

Rayla sighed, sitting on a tree branch. The sun was starting to rise, but she still hadn't found Claudia. She jumped down from the tree branch, and started to go back to where Callum was. Maybe Claudia was with him...

She wasn't, unfortunately. Callum turned around to see her, and sighed.

"So I'm guessing you didn't find Claudia?"

"Nope." Rayla sat down, "She must have gone far."

Callum sighed, "I'm sorry. I thought we could trust her."

"I know." She leaned against a tree, thinking about where Claudia could possibly be. Maybe she found somewhere... Maybe she had some trouble with elves, too.

"We can't stop looking." Callum stood up, "I'm going to go find her. You should stay here."

"Callum, wait." Rayla stood up as well, immediately catching up with him.

"We have to find her. I mean, she and Zym could have been attacked or..." Callum said, "I have to go find her."

"Not alone."

"I'm the one who told her to protect Zym."

Rayla ignored him, walking alongside him as they searched. They didn't get to go very far before they heard a noise. Rayla stopped Callum from walking any further, listening...

"Oh, great." Callum commented, sarcastically, "Are we going to get attacked?"

A small, baby dragon ran out from around the area they heard the noise. He ran towards Rayla and Callum.

"Zym?" Callum asked, "Then where's..."

Glancing at the area they previously heard the noise, there was soon a human there, "Oh, good, you're okay. You found them, Zym."

Claudia walked over towards them, smiling.

"Wait, Claudia, where were you?" Callum questioned, "We couldn't find you."

Claudia shrugged, "Guess we went a bit too far."

Rayla stared at Claudia, confused. Rayla wasn't sure what Claudia was up to, but wouldn't this have been a great opportunity? If she had Zym, they'd have to go after her, even if she went back home...

"How far?" Rayla asked.

Claudia glanced behind her, "I mean, pretty far. We found a cave to hide from the elves in..."

"I'm glad to see you guys are okay, though." She added, smiling. Zym ran around Rayla, who picked him up. She stared at Claudia, who smiled.

"So, uh," Claudia said, "Should we get going?"

"Yeah..."

She was still surprised by Claudia looking for them. Honestly, she expected to have to fight Claudia. It just didn't make sense for Claudia to come back... Whatever she was planning mostly just seemed to be confusing.

Rayla turned around and started walking in a different direction, towards where she lived. She felt kind of weird going back home after everything that happened, and seeing Tinker again. After her mission and all... And she was returning with two humans and a baby dragon.

That was going to be an interesting story to tell, and probably a pretty long one. Honestly, she wasn't looking forward to it just yet. But if she could convince Tinker to help them, then they wouldn't have to worry about getting caught so much. As long as Callum didn't talk.

As they approached where she lived, and many other moonshadow elves did as well, Rayla wasn't surprised to hear them gasp.

"Whoa..."

Rayla glanced at the humans and smiled as they looked at where she lived, with all of the buildings. It was very similar to the Moon Nexus in a way, a similar design, though not quite the same.

She turned around, "So, how's that elf impression going?"

A/N: I really don't want to write tinker. or elf callum. or elf claudia, which I feel will also inevitably come up. as if elf callum wasn't enough.

there may be some procrastinating in writing the next few chapters since it's gonna be really difficult to figure out a personality for Tinker, which could and probably will be wrong. also, I am just going to call him Tinker.