Umbrum could not say, in good faith, that he liked Urainia. Her starlight weakened his power, and he could tell she had a crush on him. He had no romantic interest in her, and made a low-level creature of his talk to her instead. But this did nothing to satiate her curiosity.

If one good thing had come from all this light, it was the heat it gave off was useful for metallurgy. Umbrum decided to make a staff to allow him to manipulate darkness even when surrounded by light. And yet, just as he hammered out the shape of it, Manx approached him.

"Urainia told me that she isn't going anywhere until you talk to her."

Umbrum didn't even turn to make eye-contact with him, still hammering away. "Well, tell her I'm busy. I hope she likes waiting."

A thought came to Manx's head, a wicked thought.

"My lord, if you want Urainia out of the picture, just say so. Urainia won't be coming back after I deal with her."

Urainia heard this, and she felt a pang of dread that she couldn't quite explain.

Umbrum was horrified by the statement. He just said that he's willing to hurt Urainia! It's not as if she did anything wrong, she's just kind of annoying!

He turned to face Manx. "Why do you want to hurt Urainia?"

"Well, my lord, I thought that you should know that I'm willing to."

Umbrum's glowing teal eyes narrowed. "Stop calling me "my lord", especially not in that context."

Manx bowed apologetically and disappeared.

Urainia approached him, cautious.

"Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Sorry."

Surprised, Umbrum turned to see Urainia.

After a long, tense silence, Urainia spoke.

"Do you hate me?"

Umbrum chuckled. "No, hate is too strong a word. "Annoyed" is better."

"Do you want me to leave?" Urainia lowered her head, strands of purple hair falling over her eyes.

"Forever? No. Just give me some space. Everytime that ring on your home makes a full rotation, you can come."

Urainia nodded. "Thanks for the idea. Are we equals, or...?"

"Yes. Which means that you can't keep putting stars around my house."

Urainia put a hand on Umbrum's arm. "Does it hurt you?"

Umbrum moved her hand away. "It weakens me. Just know I won't do the same to you."