Grandpa Thinker sized up the mermaid chief as the woman gripped her spear tighter.
She was the veteran of many a battle, but he was a force to be reckoned with. She knew this, and so the spear remained by her side.
"Wise Lady, surely you don't want to take out your wrath on a child? The dungeon core is not a dungeon core anymore. Simply let it go," grandpa Thinker said, magic sizzling around him in a show of force and Grandma Thinker sitting on a chair next to him.
Her presence, a reassuring support as it had always been.
"We would have given the murderous core a trial. Then this youngling spirited it away," the chief said.
Marinus frowned.
"Him. I helped him get away. His name is Luca, and he is not a thing, Wise Woman."
"Quiet, Marinus! Let the adults speak," grandma Thinker said, a hand shooting out to tug at Marinus' ear.
That quieted the merman, but the frown that now marred his face showed that he wanted to speak more on the matter.
