"It went pretty well! I got about as much as I think I could about the artefact—" He relays the conversation to Tetsuma.

"...Okay, either that's a bizarre coincidence - which I wouldn't put past this realm, it's already weird enough that most places have humans - or Reim and his mom are from my world. That 'softly glowing white ball' sounds a lot like a fox spirit's star-jewel."

"—a what now."

"...Keeping in mind that Reim's the first fox-spirit I've ever actually met - not counting the guardian spirits at shrines - there's stories about fox spirits. And in some of those stories, they have a small, glowing ball that they carry in their mouth or on their tail, that if you steal they'll do anything to get back. Nobody agrees about why - common theories are that they contain the fox's power or soul - but you can definitely extort them in exchange for the ball."

"...well, then. That's. Interesting. And slightly unethical but it makes me wonder about the lord."

"Very unethical, and also usually a bad idea, since foxes are tricksters. But, yeah, if it is a star-jewel, I wonder what he's doing with it?"

"Powering his magic, apparently. Do your stories not explain what these jewels do?"

"Not really, no, beyond speculation."

"I kinda really want to talk to Reim again, now."

"I can see how he wouldn't mention it to start with - this can probably be used against him - but yeah."

"Yeah. Hmm... Oi Reim! Reeeeeeim!" he calls again.

Still nothing.

"How are we even going to find him to give him the jewel back?"

"...I mean, presumably he's still on the same island we met him on? I think Sarati said it's called Telmiln. We can find a ride back there."

"I guess. Will be a hassle but I can't thank him enough for the translation magic."

"It's been a major help! Hopefully whatever he rewards us with will be just as good, if not better."

He grins. "Yeah, hopefully. ...so I was thinking, while it seems more likely than ever that this jewel has in fact been stolen, I'm not seeing much of a downside to acting like a character from your world and wanting to talk to the lord about it."

They hum. "Yeah, that makes sense to me; I can try and keep watch from a distance in case something goes wrong. Though I'd feel more comfortable if you practiced a bit more at breaking illusions, since Reim said he uses them."

"Yeah, good idea. But they're—not the same kind so I don't know how much the skill will transfer."

"I'm not really clear on how local illusions work. Though from a brief description of local magic, disrupting your chakra probably can't hurt for dismissing illusions."

"Yeah, it's worth being good at."

"Definitely! Though maybe not tonight."

"No, I'm exhausted and way too full of food and want to sleep."

"Then let's get to bed."

Sleep can be had (and cuddles. Tetsuma's a bit like a limpet in their sleep.)

D'awwwwww.

The next few days return to their easy routine, with Dayo working more and more on illusion breakage.