CAUTION: Spoils aspects of Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities, as well as aspects of When Nothing Remains, and much of Usurpation of the Darkness through chapter 23.

Seriously, major spoilers here.

Assuming you wish to continue, read on…

Background: You know why we're here by now, I think. Time for part four of Gold's little mini-saga.

It all made so much sense now that Gold knew about Pyre. Of course, Lily was more than his equal when it came to manipulation; she had spent season-cycles learning from a master of the subject. Of course, she had been upset about something; she had gone to go tell Pyre she had lied to him, and he hadn't taken it well at all. Of course, she had pushed herself to do as he had suggested on some other, unrelated topic; she had wanted to make it up to him somehow.

That last one was the only one Gold didn't know for sure. The other two had quickly become apparent as Pyre, with Lily's frequent additions, had gone over everything they thought he needed to know. That included, by pure necessity as it was interwoven into the actions of both of them, Pearl's plight, Granite's reason for challenging, and Lily's lie to Pyre.

It included their plans to somehow, someday, overthrow Claw. It included the fact that Lily and Crystal had been playing him for moon-cycles, right up to eventually making it an easy choice for him.

Gold suspected it was this last revelation that had Lily looking so nervously at him as they flew away from Pyre's home. He had gone silent upon hearing of that, and Pyre had said they should probably leave. Lily didn't know how he was taking it.

He didn't know how he was taking it; they had overwhelmed him with a flood of new information, and he hadn't complained because he wanted to know. Now he knew. He knew too much.

Lily flew out in front of him and gently redirected his course, leading him over the mountain and around, toward a ledge. She landed there and turned to stare at him as he landed in turn.

"So…" she ventured, uncharacteristically timid. "That was a lot to process, I guess."

He said nothing. He knew she wanted a few reassurances and was probably going to use mating to ensure he felt like giving them, and really he could give her most of what she wanted to hear right now, but he didn't know what to think of that one thing in particular.

"The thing with Crystal and me, and you?" Lily guessed. "Is that what's bothering you?"

He nodded, looking at the mountainside behind her instead of her eyes. On the one paw, he should feel offended, used, manipulated, but on the other, they had only been trying to make sure his choice suited their ulterior motives, and those motives were unquestionably good, from their standpoint.

"I am not mad," he said quietly. "Just surprised." And that was the truth, really. He had manipulated the both of them, and apparently, they had manipulated him in turn. Fair was fair. Crystal's rejection had stung, but he now knew she hadn't wanted him anyway, and neither had Lily, not at first.

Or… not at all? He didn't believe that, refuting the doubt almost as soon as he had it. She had made herself far too vulnerable in the beginning, when convincing him not to chase other females, and now that he knew the extent of her deception, he thought he could see what had been real.

Too much information, but that part was not important. "You want me now, right?" he asked.

"Definitely, and I did then too, just in a different way," Lily admitted. She walked around to behind him and threw her weight across his back, sprawling out over his folded-in wings and lowering her head right next to his, looking him in the eye from behind. "I like you better when you are not quiet and shocked."

"I like me better that way too," he agreed. He could make a big deal out of it, but really, why would he? He had what he wanted, she had what she wanted, and everything was good. What was more, he felt like even more of a hero than before; not only had he saved Lily from falling to her death, he had apparently saved her from her own perverted Sire as well, without even trying.

"You know," he decided, shaking his head from side to side to lightly whack her with his ears, "you could have broken all of that stuff to me slowly, over the course of days."

"Incomplete information is dangerous," Lily grumbled, her voice right in his ear. "Not taking that chance."

And now that he knew about her past, he felt he knew her far better too. He understood that she was referencing the situation with Granite and Crystal, and giving advice without knowing all the ramifications.

He knew that talking about that mistake and Granite's death had made Lily cry, earlier that day, if only briefly.

"Well, no going back now," he said, dismissing the memory. "Are you afraid I will hold grudges or go crazy or act on anything you told me?"

"A little?"

"Do not worry. I can keep a secret." He already did keep secrets, and what was more, he kept secrets for other people. He had never told anyone some of the more interesting pairings he had seen out on the ledges, for instance. There was no point in telling, especially when he could use the information for his own ends. Besides, there was so much of it that he wouldn't know what to do first, or who to tell.

"Even from Claw?"

"I think," he said with a low purr, "that I told you myself, a while back, that I plan on replacing him. I do not care how he goes."

"I might replace him," Lily warned, shoving her flat chin down on his forehead and forcing his head down to his chest. "What would you do then?"

"No idea, but as long as you do not take other males as additional mates, I will hold to my promise." In no small part because he was pretty sure being unfaithful would call Pyre down on him like an avenging mad-dragon, but also because he had promised. After hearing so much about what Claw really did, he wasn't so enthusiastic about the idea of taking many mates, either. Even if the idea was still sound on its own, it felt tainted now.

"Deal. I don't want other males." She lifted her head, letting him look up a little. "What about Pearl?"

"Well, I just said I will not chase other females, even if she could really use a romantic, suave, kind male sweeping in and secretly showing her a good time," he rumbled. "Unless you would like to make an exception for a needy friend, and talk her into-"

"I don't care how helpful and comforting you might be, I'm not letting any other female have you," Lily snarled possessively. "That wasn't what I meant to ask. Pearl needs to be liberated, not distracted. The same goes for Crystal."

"Fine." He couldn't muster the concentration to be annoyed by that; she was shuffling her hindquarters now, shifting her weight further-

With a little hop and a push down on his shoulders, she was up, laying full along his back, her head on top of his and her paws dangling down next to his, her tail curled around his for balance. She was heavy, though not quite as heavy as she should be.

"What about us?" Lily purred seductively. "I owe you a big thank-you for saving my life, and a big apology for tricking you, and where we are opens up some interesting options…"

"Are we done making sure I can be trusted?" he asked hopefully.

"Let me see… Claw, Pearl, general secrets best kept that way… Yes, I think we're done. Do you have any more burning questions?"

"Just one." He craned his neck to get a look at his mate. "When you say a big apology and a big thank you, do you have anything specific in mind?" If she didn't, he was sure he could think of more than a few things. All of the new things he had learned didn't really matter to him now. He already had what he wanted, the only thing he had ever really wanted; an alluring, interesting, eager female, and no other responsibilities.

O-O-O-O-O

Gold roused late the next morning to his mate's groaning as she herself presumably woke. "Next time," she grumbled, stiffly stretching her legs, "you'll have to do more than saving my life to get all of that."

"What more can I possibly do?" Gold asked smugly. He was sure she didn't mean it; she had certainly enjoyed many of his more out-there suggestions. It was probably just a mistake to do them all one after another. He was feeling wrung-out too.

"I'll think of something appropriately momentous," she assured him, stirring under his outstretched wing and licking her paws.

"What is the plan for today?" he asked, purring quietly into the back of her neck. "We could stay here…"

"My plan is not mating," she said vehemently. "Give me a few days to recover. We were supposed to go running today, but that can wait until tomorrow. Flying is a no-no. How about we just walk around the valley?"

"After we clean up, or are you looking to flaunt-"

A stinging tail-slap to his hindquarters cut him off. "No," Lily barked. "Help me clean up, or so help me Gold, I will do something you won't like at all."

"Like what?" he asked impishly.

"I'll drag you to your family's rock and spend all day asking your Dam for awkward stories," she said firmly. "And then, if I'm still annoyed, I'll think of something worse."

"I will help you," he quickly capitulated, and shuffled to start on her shoulder. He needed to remember that she didn't like being embarrassed, and that she often responded in kind.

"Thank you," she warbled. "So, what do you think of the whole 'Claw' situation now that you've had time to let it all sink in?"

"He needs to go, and things need to change," Gold replied shortly as he worked. "I agree with you."

"No, I meant what do you think about how it should be done?" Lily asked. "I admit that I'm not sure what the best approach is. I cannot just challenge, and even if I could, I wouldn't win. Nobody would. And I don't want to risk anyone's life like that."

"Well, I am not challenging no matter what," he immediately reminded her. "No way, no how. Not only did I swear to him, I do not feel like dying."

"Get behind my ears if you are going to be doing my back," Lily requested as he worked his way across her. "I forgot about that. You know, you don't have to hold that oath."

"I can hold it and oppose him," Gold explained in between licks. "All I swore was to never fight and always follow. If he goes somewhere I will trail him, and I will not physically fight him, and that is as far as my word holds me."

Lily warbled a light, throaty laugh. "That works too. See, this is why I could never have a stupid mate."

"Why?" He was working his way down her side now, and he considered it a sign of her comfort with him that she didn't object. Or maybe she was just distracted; he wanted to keep her talking in case that was the reason he was getting away with this.

"I'd end up killing him in frustration and claiming he died in an accident the average light wing would easily avoid," Lily said lightly. "You know, to be ironic."

"Would the accident in that case actually be ending up your mate?" Gold asked, still working his way down. Lily had better not object to where his tongue was heading if she wanted to be totally clean. "You know, since that would be what killed him. So, you are saying any intelligent dragon would want to avoid you?"

Lily looked back at him, her eyes travelling down to find his head. She stared at him, and then pointedly turned back to look out at the forest.

"Just saying," Gold purred. "Once I am done with you, will you help me clean up?"

"Only if the end result is you clean, not me dirty again," Lily laughed. "Are all newly mated pairs as eager as you-"

"Us," Gold cut in. "Do not claim you are not just as eager."

"Us, then," Lily agreed. "But you always start things."

"Only because someone has to and you are not comfortable doing so unless you have a good excuse," Gold supplied helpfully, working his way down the length of her tail now. He was taking a shot in the dark, but if it failed she would just laugh.

She didn't laugh. She turned to regard him with a far less amused stare, one that made him feel both proud and sheepish at the same time. "What do you mean by that?"

He decided to keep going with that line of thought, though she didn't sound all that happy with it, if only to see where it led. "Well, I mean, you use it as a reward, but you do not have to," he continued. "Just jump me whenever. Lead me out here at random. I would not mind."

"Think back," she objected. "I have done as much. I do not only start things when I have a good excuse!"

"But you do use excuses," he insisted. "You do not have to." Ideally, she'd stop using it as a tool of persuasion, too.

"I won't, then," she agreed. "But we still are going to go out and do something else with the rest of today, so if this was an elaborate ruse to change that, it failed."

"It was not." He shrugged his wing shoulders and gave her tailfins a cursory once over. "If I had a ruse, it would happen when you helped clean me off."

"And it will not?"

"Not if you do not want it to." He really had not planned on anything like that; she didn't seem to be in the mood, and he could take it or leave it, as foreign as that was to him.

"You know what?" Lily warbled, stepping away from him and turning around. "I just thought of what I want us to do today."

"I get a say in that, surely," Gold objected lightly.

"Oh, you'll like this," Lily assured him, circling around to press a paw on his back and clean something off. He had no idea what she was removing with her tongue; probably just an errant smudge of something from their recent crash landing. He had found plenty of small patches of condensed salt on her, apart from the other, more recent contaminants.

"What is it?"

"We are going to go let my best friend in on the fact that you know everything," she replied cryptically.

"And I like that why?" he asked. He was pretty sure she meant Crystal, and he wasn't on good terms with Crystal-

Wait, no, that was before he knew she had been playing him from the start. He felt a bit of grudging respect at that; he hadn't thought she had a deceptive bone in her body. There had to be a vulgar joke there somewhere, he could feel it just out of reach. Him courting her, him being deceptive, wanting to mate with her, her not having a deceptive bone in her body…

"You'll like it because I want to surprise her with it," Lily revealed. "She deserves some cheering up, and finding out you are coming along nicely seems like a good way to do that."

"It does?" He almost didn't object further, thinking she probably had it all figured out and would look down on him for not getting it… But he remembered Pyre's words from the day before, and the admonishment that Lily was not always right. This really seemed like a bad idea.

"Does she often enjoy having what she gave up flaunted in front of her?" he asked diffidently, hedging his bets by making it seem like a casual question, not a serious doubt.

"It would not be like that," Lily said firmly, scratching at something right between his shoulders. He leaned back to let her reach it easier. "She was asking after you, wanting to know whether you were bearable. She is not happy with Claw, and knowing that she did not sacrifice for nothing will make that easier on her."

"But it will still rub in that she did not get me, and we both agree that I am desirable," Gold argued, not letting even a hint of amusement into his voice as that would undermine his argument. "If she is not happy with her situation, why would seeing you even happier than expected make her feel better?"

"It would make me feel better if our places were reversed, to know that my friend was at least not suffering alongside me," Lily objected.

"And Crystal thinks like that?" Gold pressed.

A sharp claw poked between his scales. "Why are you so insistent on this?" Lily asked suspiciously.

Because he was pretty sure she was making a mistake, and Pyre had told him to point out when she was truly wrong, so that she would respect him. "Because I do not think this will work the way you want," he said simply. "She is your friend, and you would know her better than me, but I certainly would not like to end up with some terrible female, and then to have Cedar show up bragging about how great his mate is. Especially if I could have had her but decided to be nice and help him take her instead."

"It would not be bragging…" She had lost her certainty, which Gold took as a good sign. "I think she would be happy for me… And she wanted to see me reform you. We have made a good start at that."

"I have not changed much," he asserted.

"Let's see," Lily rumbled as she resumed licking. "You've shown you can keep your attention on one female and be faithful, you don't try to push me around anymore, you're not obnoxious about mating at every single opportunity, you make me laugh, you saved my life, you met Pyre and didn't make a mess of that whole situation, you agreed to keep our secrets without even really asking for anything in return…"

He squirmed under the ticklish pressure of her tongue on a sensitive part of his wing, near where membrane met the arm. "That is change?"

"Gold, you wanted to try and mate with me, Honey, Pearl, and Crystal on the sly," Lily said bluntly. "You were basically Claw-in-the-making. Now, just a few days later, I feel like you've grown up and become a different person. One who doesn't want that."

"I do not feel any different, even if I have given up on that," he grumbled. She talked like it was such a huge shift when it wasn't even all his doing. He still vaguely liked the idea of sneaking out to Pearl and seducing her, and then going for Pina or Crystal or Honey, and then another female…

But that just didn't seem quite as good as what he had now, and he would spoil this if he tried. He had realized that he liked this too much to risk it, no more. If she said 'yes, go make Pearl happy' he would gladly do it.

Or was that just what he was thinking to reassure himself? Was he on the path to becoming his Sire? First he lost his desire to sleep around, then he decided against controlling her, then he found himself on occasion not really caring about mating… Was the next step just turning into his Sire and letting her take charge without even thinking about it, all the while convincing himself that there were good reasons to do it, that he wanted to do it, that it just wasn't worth the effort or risk to oppose her-

Pyre's instructions again came to mind. Lily would want an equal, a strong male who didn't try to control her but didn't let her take control. That, by definition would make him nothing like his Sire.

Maybe he was just turning into something different. Claw was no role model, and neither were any of the males of the valley, and he didn't know Pyre well enough to be like him if he wanted to. It made sense that he wouldn't know what he was becoming if his only points of reference were people he didn't want to emulate.

"Gold," Lily hummed, licking his haunches and startling him out of his befuddlement. "You went all silent again."

"I was just thinking," he explained. "Maybe I have changed."

"And?"

"I do not know what I am changing into," he admitted. "So I do not feel good about it."

"But I do," Lily hummed, rubbing her nose against his back. "Do you want me to tell you?"

"Go ahead." He didn't know what he was going to hear, but at least he would know what she was aiming for, if she spoke true.

"A strong male," she hummed thoughtfully, rubbing against his scales. "Physically, strong and big and fit. I want to be strong and fit too, but we are talking about you here. Mentally strong too, clever and deceptive, but not in bad ways. Faithful, loving, caring. Sly and irreverent and Gold, because I won't touch your personality or your spirit or your confidence, I like what's there already. There's more, but those are the things I am aiming for most of all."

"I can never live up to that," he complained, touched in spite of his objection. He'd prefer to hear she already thought he was all of those things, of course, but this was a close second.

"You are already starting to," she assured him. "You might be right about Crystal, too."

"I think I am," he agreed. "Approach her some other way. Flaunting me will just make her jealous."

"I will think about it," Lily sighed. "Any other ideas as to what we can do today? Besides the obvious."

"We could go meet my friends," he offered on a whim. They would almost certainly be doing something together, and talk of making people jealous had got him thinking. He would rather enjoy showing Lily around and rubbing it in Cedar's face, and Mist too, she was always looking down on him…

"Who?"

"Cedar, Ash, Root, Danda, Mist, Liona," he recited. "They are all a season-cycle younger, I guess you would not know them?"

"I know their names," Lily mused. "But not really anything about them. That sounds nice, actually. Let's finish getting cleaned up, and then go find them."

"Fair warning," Gold rumbled, feeling the need to ensure Lily was in the right stage of mind, "they might not think too highly of you, so you should show off."

"Show off, you say?" Lily rumbled. "I think I can do that." There was a mischievous edge to her voice that made him want to tremble with anticipation… or dread. He wasn't sure which yet.

O-O-O-O-O

"Still refusing to share your good fortune?" Cedar asked the moment Gold landed on the shore.

"What?" Gold asked, intentionally playing dumb. He had not forgotten Cedar's insistence that he share how mating with Lily was, and his decision to not give Cedar what he wanted hadn't changed. Besides, if he timed this right Cedar would stick his paw in his own mouth…

"Come on," Cedar whined. "I am not going to stop pestering you until you give me at least one detail. Was she into it, or did you have to do everything?"

"Well, it seems like she might be into something I am going to propose soon," Gold said slowly, speaking loudly so Cedar wouldn't hear the muted thump behind him.

"Yes? What?" Cedar leaned forward, sliding a pawlength in the sand.

"Stepping on your tail," Gold said blandly.

Lily stomped down viciously, revealing her presence with two paws and all of her weight against the midsection of his tail. Cedar yelped, jumped, failed to shift Lily, and as a result slammed back into the sand with a second yelp.

"No asking about mating," Lily growled.

"Or you will get worse," Gold added casually, strolling up to Cedar and putting a paw on his forehead to help hold him down. "So?"

"No asking," Cedar mumbled.

"Good, now let's forget about this," Lily purred, stepping off of his tail and circling around to stand with Gold. "Where is everyone else?"

"Cedar always gets here early," Gold explained, seeing that Cedar wasn't about to speak up. "They will arrive any moment now." He hadn't told anyone that he'd be bringing Lily, but he knew where they met up, and when.

"Liona will be late," Cedar mumbled. "Gold, why did you bring her?" He had twisted around and was examining his tail with wide eyes. "She is not part of our group."

"I wanted to meet my mate's friends," Lily supplied helpfully, her voice pleasant. "I hope I am not going to make things awkward."

Gold snorted. She had already failed with at least one person. Not that he minded; Cedar needed to be put in his place, and would hopefully not cause any more problems.

"No, not awkward… You bruised my tail." Cedar huffed and stood, swinging his now somewhat stiffer tail around behind him to test it. "In two places."

"Let those bruises remind you what is and is not polite to ask about me," Lily said happily. "If you need another reminder once they fade, I can give you a few more."

"I do not envy you any more, Gold," Cedar announced.

"You should," Gold purred. "She is only like this with those who have no right to know all the fun things about her."

"Fun things?"

Gold jumped, surprised, and turned to see Ash and Root walking out of the forest. "What were you doing there?" he demanded.

"Felt like walking," Ash explained. "Mist is-"

"Right behind you!" Mist snarled, leaping out from behind another tree to tackle Ash. "Never do that again!"

Gold knew the signs of a successful prank, but he was surprised to see who had apparently pulled one off. "What did they do this time?" he sighed, acting as if he was not part of the pranking group more often than not. He was not part of this one, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

"Mud," Mist spat, firmly swatting Ash's head. "I woke up to find my tailfins covered in mud!"

"I surrender," Ash said calmly, covering his head with his paws just in time to block another strike. "Cedar put us up to it."

"Did he?" Mist snarled.

"I did not even know about this," Root objected. "Is this why you wanted to walk in the woods, Ash?"

"Cedar gave me the whole plan," Ash repeated.

Gold turned to look at Cedar, only to find that he was sprinting down the beach, away from them. He wasn't really trying to flee, that would involve flying, but he was putting some distance between himself and Mist.

Lily hummed in amusement. "I guess he really deserved that tail-bruising," she remarked.

"I do not care what bruising he got, when he comes back I am going to give him another," Mist growled. "I hit my Dam with a lump of mud by mistake, and she was not happy."

"How did you manage that?" Root asked, apparently deeming himself safe from Mist's wrath. He eyed Lily curiously, but didn't remark on her presence. Mist was too annoyed to care, and Ash was too busy shielding himself from possible future attacks.

"I woke up, felt a weight, swung my tail up to look, and slapped it all along her side," Mist growled. "I am going to find him, drag him into the forest, and dunk him face-first into the first puddle I find."

"He's getting away," Lily pointed out.

"He will come back, and he wants me to chase him, so I am just going to wait here." Mist stepped off of Ash, favoring him with one last thump from her tail. "Lily, how are you doing today?"

"Good," Lily warbled lightly. "I would ask about you, but you have already said. I would ask Ash, but he is obviously bruised and bemused. Root?"

"Glad to be on the sidelines of this one," Root responded. "Where are Liona and Danda?"

"Late," Gold supplied. "I do not know why, though. Cedar did not say."

"Something about their Dam," Mist offered. "Maybe she is giving them a lecture on choosing mates. I know that was what was happening last time they were both late."

"What is there to lecture on?" Gold asked leisurely. Root and Ash were both paying close attention now, and he couldn't help but poke at them. "How to settle for the inferior ones available to them?"

"How to pick the right one," Mist grunted, giving him an evil look. "Though we both know you profited from other Dams not giving that same lecture."

"Excuse me?" Lily growled.

Mist glanced over at her. "Sorry, you are not used to our bantering," she said, not sounding all that sorry. "Gold knows I did not really mean it, and I certainly meant no offense to you."

Gold snorted; that might have worked on someone else, but Lily was far too observant to fall for that. They both knew that Mist had meant offense to him, at the very least. He had the option of calling her out on it, but instead he kept his mouth shut, more interested in how Lily would retort.

To his surprise, she didn't let on that she had caught the lie. "Oh, I see," Lily hummed pleasantly. "You did not mean to say that I chose poorly, it was just a joke. I understand."

"Yes, exactly," Mist hummed. "Anyway, it is not as if you had a choice in the matter."

The arrival of Liona and Danda, diving down from above, temporarily ended the exchange. Mist turned to greet the two females.

Lily, in the meantime, sidled over to Gold. "She is going to get it," she hummed quietly. "Follow my lead." She bounded over to the two latecomers, not waiting for an answer.

O-O-O-O-O

Introductions had been made, and Lily had remained pleasant to all, though she was obviously plotting. The group lazed on the tideline, the males occasionally roughhousing in the surf, and conversations were had.

Throughout it all, Gold watched for Lily's revenge, and saw nothing to indicate what it might be. He couldn't even tell if she had a plan. She didn't lead the conversations anywhere, she didn't strike at Mist through words or insinuations, she didn't give her game away in the slightest.

Still, he stuck close to her and kept an ear out for her words, even as he lazed away the afternoon on his back in the sand, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Then something caught his attention. Mist had gone out to dunk Cedar in the tide, and the other males were all helping her, much to Cedar's dismay. Lily, Liona, and Danda had stayed back, within earshot of him. Liona and Danda probably assumed he was asleep, though he knew Lily well enough to know that she wouldn't assume the same, having told him she was plotting something earlier.

"Tell me," Lily hummed idly, speaking to Liona and Danda, "how are you two and Mist deciding who gets which male?"

Danda groaned loudly. "Not this again, our Dam just got done lecturing us about being kind to each other and choosing different males."

"She would not have to lecture if you would pick one," Liona said quietly.

"You are one to talk," Danda scoffed. "You say you know who you want, but you will not say who until I do."

"You are not picking the same male, obviously," Lily hummed. "Have you found out who Mist is leaning toward?"

"That is easy," Liona murmured. "She is going for Ash. Cedar aggravates her, and she does not like Root's Dam or how attached to her he is."

"Liona wants Root, obviously," Danda snorted. "She just will not admit it."

"Not necessarily," Liona huffed.

Lily hummed in a way Gold knew usually meant she was planning something. "Well, whatever you decide, you should make it known sooner rather than later. The way I see it, Mist might pick someone one of you wants. Get in the prior claim."

Gold held in an evil purr. This sounded like the beginning of a ploy against Mist, though he didn't know where Lily was going to lead it, aside from maybe consigning Mist to last pick of the males. That seemed like it would backfire, since she could just compete with Liona or Danda for whoever they picked, and that would lead to someone ending up with Claw. He couldn't see Lily voluntarily leading anyone to that particular outcome, so obviously he was missing something.

One of the females stood and shook herself. Gold was guessing Danda, since Liona would have walked away and avoided showering everyone else in sand… and Lily probably would have tried to shake as much as possible onto him specifically.

"I am going to go cool off," Danda announced, confirming his guess. Neither female offered to go with her.

The moment she was gone, Lily purred. "It's Cedar, isn't it?" she said in a low voice.

"Maybe," Liona murmured sadly. "Maybe not. He is probably going to pester Mist into picking him, he probably plays pranks on her all the time for a reason."

"That reason being that you obviously wouldn't like it, and Danda would bite him for real," Lily retorted. "If you like him, go for it."

"That is not what I do," Liona said with a whine. "And if I do, Danda will try for him too."

"I see…" Lily hummed thoughtfully. "If Cedar began pranking Danda non-stop to annoy her, and at the same time courting you, would you like that?"

"Yes," Liona admitted.

"Okay, then," Lily said. "If that happens, go with it." She made a suggestion sound like a promise without actually promising anything, a trick Gold resolved to learn as soon as he could. He could remember both Lily and Crystal using that same technique on him to great effect, so it was definitely worth picking up for himself.

O-O-O-O-O

"So much for making her regret it," Gold complained as they flew back to their rock that evening. "You did not do anything."

Lily snorted. "I knew you would say that," she said smugly. "I am just getting started. Now, I'm going to need you to do something for me tonight."

"Does it involve my tongue in any way?" Gold asked cheekily. "Because I had plans of my own…"

"You can do that once you get back," Lily said a little too quickly, "but first I need you to catch up to Cedar and convince him to prank Danda, but not Liona. Give him some ideas if he needs them."

"Really?" Gold asked. "What is the plan here? Obviously, you are going to set Cedar up with Liona, but how does that spite Mist?"

"That's just part one," Lily snorted. "Go quickly, you want to catch Cedar before he goes home."

Gold huffed and banked, turning toward where Cedar lived. He would play along; if nothing else, just seeing the results of Cedar pranking Danda would be worth the effort getting him started was undoubtedly going to take.

O-O-O-O-O

When he and Lily found the group the next day, three things had changed. Danda was fuming mad, Cedar was avoiding her, and Liona was eyeing Cedar in disbelief.

"Did you do this?" Liona hissed, approaching Lily the moment she set down. Gold pretended he wasn't listening, but stuck close.

"Maybe," Lily said vaguely. "Maybe Gold helped."

"Maybe Cedar was easy to convince," Gold added. He didn't know Lily's whole plan, but since it probably involved doing what she had promised, he knew how to help. "It was not hard to set him against Danda."

"And… the other thing?" Liona asked.

"I've got that covered," Lily hummed. "But you should do a little something to make sure he knows you would like his attention."

"I am all ears," Liona said fervently, leaning in to listen.

Gold saw Ash looking over, and took that as his cue to go run interference. He bounded over and swatted a pawful of sand in the other male's face, startling him.

"Hey!" Ash barked, blinking rapidly as he dug his paws into the sand. "You will regret that!"

"Nah," Gold smirked, tossing another pawful of sand at his side. "I think you will." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily explaining something to Liona, and knew that he was helping. He couldn't wait to see how this would all come around to bite Mist.

O-O-O-O-O

By midday, Lily's work with Liona was bearing fish. Gold didn't know how she had convinced the shy female to share a fish with Cedar, but it was happening right in front of his eyes. Judging by the confused stare Liona was getting from her sister and Mist, he wasn't the only one amazed.

"Here you go, but only if you tell me how you did that," Gold said, dropping a fish just out of reach. Lily rolled her eyes at him and stuck a paw out to take it, but he pulled it away.

"It wasn't hard," Lily said shortly. "She just needed someone to tell her she was pretty and clever and build her confidence up a bit. It is not like anyone else here was doing that before. Danda and Mist see her as a possible rival, not someone to build up."

He nodded, judging that sufficient, and flicked the fish at her. He hadn't bothered pursuing any of the females from this season-cycle too thoroughly, choosing instead to focus more on the ones who had a chance of being his mate, but he had held vague intentions of moving on to them at some point. That was about how he would have approached Liona… though for him, it would have taken moon-cycles of praise to get through her suspicion.

"I need to work on looking more innocent," he murmured.

"Good luck, given you built yourself a reputation as anything but," Lily snorted. "You're never going to look innocent to anyone that knows you."

"You would know all about my innocence," Gold purred, wishing he had thought of a better way to phrase it. There was probably a more suggestive way to use the setup she had unwillingly provided him with, but he hadn't thought of any.

Lily shook her head and licked her lips. "Oh, I do," she said shamelessly. "Now, on that same subject-"

"We could go to the ledges," he said smoothly. "It is not like we have to stick around."

"Later," Lily laughed. "Rather, I want you to go use your dirty mind to put some thoughts in Ash's head about Danda. I'm sure you have some stored up."

Gold once again found himself on the back paw, his attitude toward females accepted and thrown back in his face as a reason to make him do something he would rather not. He had to admire how easily it had been done, even as he tried to think of a good retort that would get him out of doing her bidding.

"I thought you wanted me not to have those thoughts," he huffed, acting offended.

"Which is why I want you to give them to Ash," Lily retorted without even the slightest pause.

"Oh, fine," he huffed. "But I get to call the shots tonight." He was not nearly as opposed to this as he pretended; it would be entertaining to twist Ash's mind, and something he'd never done before. But if he could profit from it too, he definitely would.

"I was hoping you would anyway," Lily hummed, brushing her tail along his side. "Now get going."

Gold hopped to his paws and made his way to Ash, willing himself to calm down. Visible excitement would not really help him in this, and would be embarrassing besides. Now, if he could get Ash to that level of interest, he would consider it a victory…

Ash was eating alone, staring in confusion at Liona and Cedar. "I do not understand," he rumbled as Gold approached.

"Females are fickle creatures," Gold said knowingly. Ash saw him as a genius in such matters, which was a largely accurate assumption, and he fully intended to use it now. "The moment she saw he did not like Danda, she leaped on him."

"He does not like Danda?" Ash rumbled, looking over at him with wide eyes.

"No, that was what the prank told everyone," Gold said calmly. "He and Liona are all but paired."

"Lucky," Ash murmured.

"Yes. Sort of." Gold shook his head. "You are the lucky one. He settled for Liona, not Danda."

"Liona is pretty," Ash said simply.

"Danda is better," Gold claimed. He put a wing on Ash's head and tilted it to look at Danda, who had her back to them, laying further down the shore. "She is sleek, and fit, and her wings have that nice curve to them that Liona does not have. And look at those hips..."

"Yes…"

"Mist is snippy, and Liona is shy," Gold said dismissively. "They would not be any fun on the ledges. Danda, though? She would be great." He felt vaguely bad for saying all of this, and he didn't quite understand why, so he discarded the more explicit praise he might have offered Danda, and jumped right to the end. "Chase her, Ash, because someone will and you want her more than Root does."

"I do," Ash grumbled, shifting uncomfortably on his paws.

Gold purred smugly. There it was. He had succeeded. Hopefully, Lily would be setting Danda up to be receptive to Ash before he did anything too obvious-

Ash stood, panted a bit, and walked away, heading straight for Danda. Gold politely averted his eyes before he could see whether Ash's interest was visible; he had seen plenty such things, spying on mated couples on the ledges, but that didn't mean he wanted to look.

In looking away, he caught Lily's eye. She flicked her ears at Ash and glared.

He purred and shrugged his wing shoulders in response, pretending it was all part of the plan to rile Ash up so much that he took immediate action. If it all went bad, he could claim he thought Lily had meant for it to happen.

"I will share fish with you tomorrow," Ash said breathlessly once he was close to Danda. "And every day."

Danda looked over her shoulder and saw him. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?" she huffed.

"Because you are attractive and perfect and I want you," he said without any tact at all.

Danda's eyes widened. She looked from him, to Mist, and then to Liona, who wasn't paying them any attention. "Really?"

"Really," Ash repeated, nudging her side. "Very much."

"I can see that," she rumbled, standing and putting a little distance between them. "Calm down."

"I can do that," Ash huffed.

"Then you can bring me fish," Danda conceded. She seemed flattered in spite of herself.

Gold cast another smug look at Lily, seeing that Ash had managed to turn base desire into an effective little speech. This was his success, even if it was her plan…

And he could tell from the way she huffed and turned away that she would do her best to downplay it later. He looked forward to that; it would be an interesting argument, with him having the advantage for once.

O-O-O-O-O

"That saves a lot of time," Lily said as they flew away a little while before sunset. "Good work."

"No complaining about how I upset your plan?" he asked, almost disappointed.

"Well, you did, but it worked out so why do I care?" Lily said pragmatically. "Now I do not have to do much except make sure Danda does not scare him off the first time she has to tell him no. You got him too interested."

"I do not do things halfway," he said smugly.

"No, and that makes me wonder what you said to him," Lily admitted.

"Nothing that could hold up to me praising you," he hummed seductively. "Does my good work mean you would be-"

"Yes, we're going to the ledges," Lily interrupted with a sultry purr. "And-"

"Lily!"

Gold looked back long enough to confirm that Mist was the one calling out to them, and huffed in annoyance. "Get rid of her quickly," he requested. She was delaying something much more important to him.

"Right here," Lily huffed, falling back to meet Mist. Gold followed, only mildly interested in what she would have to say.

"What are you playing at?" Mist demanded. "I am not stupid, I saw you talking to Liona, and then Gold with Ash."

"What am I doing?" Lily asked in an innocent voice that would have gotten Gold laughed at had he ever tried to use it. "I am just helping my new friends work things out, that is all. I may not be able to choose my own mate, but they had choices."

"And now I am without a choice in the matter!" Mist complained. "Root annoys me!"

"I am sure you will do just fine with him, once you put some effort in," Lily said coldly. "Maybe I should be snarky about your choice of mate afterward, or maybe I could admit that you didn't have much of a choice."

Mist's mouth fell open, and a moment later she spluttered, learning once more why fledglings were taught to fly with their mouths closed. Gold laughed loudly, and she turned to glare at him before addressing Lily again.

"This is about that?" she demanded. "That was-"

"Rude and insulting," Lily interjected, talking over her. "So when I saw some people in need of help, I decided I would do them first, not you. Liona and Danda are getting the males that fit them best, and you are getting the one left over. Sorry if your rudeness made you last in my priorities, but someone had to be and you all but asked for it."

Mist was struck speechless by that. Gold admired the way Lily had made her motives partially altruistic, to the point where even he couldn't say whether she actually meant it like that. On the one paw, she had told him she was getting even long before beginning to arrange pairings with the others. On the other paw, the pairings she had made were good ones regardless of how they happened to leave Mist with someone she didn't like. In a group of three males and three females, someone was bound to not get their first choice.

"I'll help you with Root," Lily offered, seemingly sincere. "You might need it, and I would like to see you two happy together."

"And I will probably need that help if I want to not be miserable," Mist murmured disbelievingly. "I cannot even complain, because my friends are all happy, and you did nothing wrong. You just helped them first."

"She learns her trickery from a smart, clever male," Gold said, proudly, happily phrasing it so that Lily could not object without revealing Pyre's existence.

"I guess you two are good for each other after all," Mist said forlornly. "If I do need your help dealing with him?"

"I'll give it," Lily assured her.

"Thank you," Mist muttered, diving to leave the conversation.

Gold watched her go, turning over Lily's completed plan in his mind. It was clever and cruel, and even better, totally impossible to complain about, as Mist had realized. "That was awesome," he admitted.

"It doesn't feel all that awesome right now," Lily sighed. "But I don't see what I would have done differently even if I was not out to spite her."

"Which is what makes it awesome, you cannot get in trouble for it." Gold flew under her and bumped his head on her stomach. "Now, in order to cheer you up…"

"The ledges," Lily agreed, speeding ahead. Gold followed, laughing eagerly.

Author's Note: Wow, this chapter was a struggle for no obvious reason. I actually wrote the next one before this, I was so stuck on nothing in particular. Even having finished it, I don't know what was holding me back.