A soft knock at the door forced Ren to drag himself out of bed, groaning as his joints protested. He tripped on the rug, slamming his knee into the corner of the table with a shout. Rubbing his injured knee, he threw the door open with a scowl. "Whadda ya want?"

Grian shrank back, his eyes widening like a deer in the headlights. "I'm- I'm sorry, I just wanted to stop by- I'll go, sorry for bothering-" Grian stepped away from the door.

Ren snagged Grian's arm, stopping him from running. "Wait, come back." He grimaced at his voice, which was still low and rough from waking up.

Grian spun around, startled. Ren felt the fear radiating off him, and deflated with a sigh. "Sorry G, I just woke up. I hope I didn't scare you too bad."

Grian disentangled himself from Ren's grip, eyeing him closely. "It's fine, I get it. Just wanted to make sure you slept well, and I wanted to see if I could grab you any materials for your project," Grian murmured.

"I slept okay, thanks man. I've, uh, got everything I need, but thank you. Sorry again."

"No problem." Grian waved goodbye, taking off instantly. Ren watched him fly away, kicking himself mentally for that whole exchange.

What was that? Grian had such a visceral look of terror, Ren was worried he'd done something wrong. They were friends; Grian had no reason to react like that, even if Ren looked grumpy. He flopped onto his bed with a sigh. Nothing seemed to be going right lately. A bizarre thought crossed Ren's mind, and he nearly pushed it away. A shiver crawled down his spine. Maybe Grian had a bad life before coming to Hermitcraft, and it was reflex for him to react with fear. But then again, that would mean Grian remembered his past life, which was extremely rare- Of all the hermits only Xisuma and Joe remembered their lives before Hermitcraft. Also, if that was true, Ren thought he would have shown signs of his memory long before now. How could Grian have hid this for so long?

None of that made any sense though. Surely Ren just made an angry face that startled Grian. With a groan, Ren crawled under his blanket. It was too early for this crap.

Ren must have dozed off, because a soft knock at the door woke him again. This time, he made sure his wits were about him before opening the door with a smile. Grian greeted him, albeit more cautiously. "Hey Ren, how're you feeling?"

"Fine, thanks. Listen, I'm sorry about what happened earlier, I just woke up, and I dunno what came over me-"

"-No, I'm sorry Ren. I hoped you would be more chipper after a good nights rest, but clearly I caught you at a bad time," Grian paused, seemingly wanting to say more. "Can we talk real quick?"

Ren froze, running through all the things Grian might want to talk about, instantly recalling his thoughts about Grian's past. "Sure, wanna come inside?"

"No, that's fine." Grian kicked at the corner of the doormat that was curling up. "Ren, tell me the truth. There's no big project, is there? You're losing sleep over Doc." His tone left no room to argue.

Ren's blood ran cold. "I mean yeah, that's part of it, but-" He wasn't expecting to have this conversation today. He really was a bad liar.

"What's going on man? How much do you know about Doc?" Grian's voice held an edge that hinted he knew more than he let on, which sent a jolt of nerves through him.

Ren sighed. "Look, I don't know much. I know it's normal for everyone to get caught up in projects, but this one feels different somehow. He dodges the subject, he won't answer my calls, and it doesn't even sound like he's having fun. He sounds miserable," Ren choked, coming to terms with his concerns.

Grian nodded, like that was the answer he expected. "Right. Well guess what? I was just talking to Cub over in the Nether Hub and he told me that Scar has been weird too." Grian nodded animatedly as Ren furrowed his brow. "I know right! It doesn't tell us much, but maybe they're working together on the project."

Ren nodded slowly. "You could be right. I dunno, I hate to meddle where it's not my place, ya dig? I'm sure he's got a fine reason, and I'm losing sleep over nothing." Mentioning sleep made Ren yawn, which made Grian frown deeper.

"Doc has no idea what he's doing to you mentally, man. If he knew, I'm sure he'd come running over here and explain everything. You need to call him again."

Ren just shook his head. "I'm not going to bother Doc any more, okay?"

"Fine, let me do it for you! You don't deserve to suffer over this crap, when I find Doc I'm gonna-"

Ren set a gentle hand on Grian's shoulder. "G, I'm not going to bother Doc and neither are you, got it?"

Grian heaved a sigh. "Fine, I won't. But you have to promise to sleep every night, okay?"

"Okay, okay," Ren chuckled. "I better get to work now."

"Bye Ren!"

Ren watched as Grian ran off, taking flight and disappearing into the clouds. With a sigh, Ren collapsed against the doorframe. He missed Doc a lot, and it was obvious. But, that didn't give Ren the right to meddle where he didn't belong. He learned this lesson last season with Iskall; sharing an island has it's pros and cons. On one hand it was a blast staying up late partying, but on the other hand, they both learned the importance of boundaries. Surely if Doc hadn't told him the details, it was a secret on purpose. This wasn't going to be easy...

—

With a determined scowl set on his face, Grian flew through the Nether portal, nearly slamming into a wall as he burst into the Nether Hub. He threw a quick glance around, wondering where to start his search for Doc, when a hermit appeared in Grian's periphery. "Aha! Scar, we need to talk!"

Scar froze, glancing around. "Uh, what's up?"

"I have reason to believe you and Doc are working on a secret project together. What can you tell me?" Grian put on a detective voice, running up to Scar.

Scar stumbled away as Grian approached, searching for a non-existent escape. He pressed against the black wall, eyeing Grian carefully. "What are- How much detail are you looking for, Sherlock Grian?"

"Well, Doc hasn't been seen in person for over a month. Can you give me any idea where he might be?"

"Physically, no. Our project needs to be in an undisclosed location. He's doing just fine otherwise; just busy..."

"Well that's good! Next question: is this endeavor a scheme to make diamonds?"

"Well, no? It's difficult to say, but not really." Scar shoved his hands in his pockets, his wandering eyes growing more anxious by the second. "Anything else?"

"Final question: when are you gonna be done?" Grian's voice grew steely, although he certainly didn't mean to.

"Well, ah, you see... I mean, there's no real way to tell with these things... and, you know Doc, ahah...." Scar trailed off, flushing brightly. "Can I go?"

"Yeah, sorry for holding you up for so long. Real quick, don't tell Doc this, but-" Grian lowered his voice to a whisper. "Ren is tearing himself apart without Doc. If he wants to keep the project secret, fine, but he should make an effort to talk to his best friend."

Scar swallowed, taking in the information. "I'll... I'll let him know, okay?"

"You better," Grian teased. "You're lucky I'm not going to follow you to wherever this secret project is and drag Doc home myself, got it? I care about my friends, and I wanna figure this out."

Scar nodded silently, not moving a muscle until Grian had long disappeared through a random portal. As soon as Grian appeared in the overworld, he heaved a sigh, running through the conversation again in his head. Cub was right; Scar was acting very strange. Grian tried his best to keep a light tone with Scar, but Scar's reactions suggested otherwise. He seemed jumpy and scared. Scared of what, Grian wasn't sure yet.

Yet. Grian was determined to find out exactly what was going on. He did feel a little silly- after all, it seemed to just be two hermits working on a project together- but Grian felt like something bigger was going on. He also felt slightly guilty about his detective plans after Ren specifically asked him not to. Grian wanted to respect Ren's wishes; of course he did! But as a third party, he could see the true nature of the situation. His client was under duress, and it was his job to amend the situation by whatever means necessary. There was definitely some sort of bigger scheme in the works here.

And he was going to find out what.

Love you, my little stars!
-RaeTheStar