Of course, it wasn’t lost on Thorax that he had gone behind Spike’s back going to Trixie’s show. Naturally, this thought didn’t sit well with him, believing he held Spike in higher regard than that—after everything Spike had done and sacrificed on his behalf so to ensure his well-being, it did seem to not show appreciation for the dragon very well…ungrateful even. But he attempted to justify it to himself by reasoning that both of them had blown the matter of Trixie’s show out of proportion. Either way, clearly it was no great concern now. Thorax had gone and seen the show and come back without problem and their cover still safe, the more important detail to remember. And the fact that Trixie proved to be looking to confirm he was at the show made him glad he did go, otherwise Trixie might have gone looking for her own answers on why he had failed to show, and that might not have gone nearly as well.
He was also still fully confident he had avoided any unwanted detection and that no one suspected him of being anything more than the pony he presently appeared as. Though he did allow himself to look back and wonder briefly why he had felt it so important to be in attendance for this show then, to feel obligated to go to such lengths to ensure he was at the show. Though it certainly contributed to his motivations, it wasn’t just because he wanted to see the show. It was more than that. But other than meeting Trixie and befriending her, he found he had no clear answer to that thought.
Regardless, Thorax didn’t want to dwell on the matter. He knew he was at least fulfilling an invitation in coming to see the show, and it all worked out in the end. It was just that he wasn’t sure how Spike would react if he found out Thorax had done this, and admittedly he hated facing the idea of the two possibly getting into a fight over what should really not be that big of a problem. Of course, it also occurred to Thorax that trying to hide he had snuck out from the dragon would only create more problems of his own making…so he at least conceded that he hadn’t thought this all the way through when he enacted on this half-baked deception. But seeing he had successfully pulled it off thus far made him hope he could perhaps keep it that way, so he wouldn’t have to face the possibility of explaining himself to the dragon.
Or so Thorax was thinking by the following morning. Up later than had become the norm for him because of seeing Trixie’s show, Thorax slept in a bit that morning, and as such, by the time he was roused by the sunlight steaming in through a gap in the window curtains, he realized he had missed Spike waking up himself. The dragon was already up and was presently in the bathroom, humming a little song to himself as he underwent his morning routine. Thorax could spy a glimpse of him through the open door, standing at the bathroom sink with a towel wrapped about his torso and a rag around his head to hold back his spines, still damp and drying from a morning bath. He appeared to be in the middle of brushing his teeth, which explained why the dragon’s humming was a bit more off-key than usual.
More importantly though, he was distracted, and Thorax thought this might be a good chance to slip away unnoticed. Rising and quickly throwing up his disguise as Thornton, he started to carefully slip past the open bathroom door, tip-toeing towards the closed door leading out of the room. Successfully making it that far, Thorax chanced a glance back at the bathroom, felt satisfied by the sound of Spike’s continued humming that he hadn’t noticed Thorax, and reached for the doorknob.
He then heard Spike spit into the sink in the bathroom. “Morning Thorax,” he called.
Thorax froze, realizing he had been noticed anyway. “Morning Spike,” he called back. “Just heading downstairs, might help Miss Fly with setting up for breakfast.” He proceeded to open the bedroom door.
“So just what kept you up so late last night anyway?” Spike asked next, apparently ignoring Thorax’s comment that he was leaving the room.
Thorax glanced back at the bathroom and noticed Spike had moved to stand in its doorway to watch Thorax, flecks of toothpaste still about his lips as he patiently waited for an answer.
Seeing he wasn’t going to get away without answering, Thorax sought an explanation. “Like I said last night,” he said. “I was helping Miss Fly with the bookkeeping.”
Spike raised an eyebrow at him. “Fly’s never up that far past eleven at night for bookkeeping,” he pointed out. “Not only is that so she doesn’t accidentally mess something up through sleep-deprivation, she doesn’t think it’s so important that it couldn’t wait until morning by that hour anyway.”
Thorax licked his lips, looking for a possible explanation. “Who said we were actually up that late?” he asked. “I mean, I wasn’t closely watching the clock, and you were already asleep…”
“I knew,” Spike assured him with a smirk, “because it gets too quiet up at night without you here, so I can’t help but notice when you’re not there.”
Thorax blinked. “Even when we’re both asleep?”
“Especially then.” Spike’s smirk grew. “You have a small nose-whistle when you sleep, Thorax.”
Thorax involuntarily put one hoof to his nose, not aware of this. At any rate, it was clear that Spike had been more awake during the night than he had realized, and he attempted to come up with an adequate cover. “Well…I suppose Miss Fly did send me out to run a quick errand to grab a couple things before bed, but…”
Spike raised both his eyebrows at him this time. “After eleven o’clock at night?”
Thorax shrugged weakly. “Guess it took longer than I thought.”
“Even Vanhoover’s practically dead at that hour; what could possibly be left to delay you by that time?”
Thorax winced, feeling he was starting to lose what little cover story he had. “Long lines,” he offered lamely.
Spike eyes narrowed doubtingly at this. “Thorax,” he said slowly. “What store is even still open that late at night, anyway?”
Thorax shifted his hooves slightly. “Lots of them.”
Spike frowned. “Name one.”
Thorax’s eyes wandered heavenward. “Uh, well…”
“And just what was it you’d gone out to get at such a late hour anyway?” Spike asked next, not waiting for an answer. It was beginning to be clear that Spike wasn’t buying Thorax’s cover story. “Or are you going to tell me you got mugged and the item stolen before you got back to the shop?”
Thorax sighed wearily. “That’s ridiculous, you know Vanhoover doesn’t have a history of ponies being mugged in the streets like that, especially at that hour,” he pointed out, an absolute truth he knew they both recognized very well. “You’d be in more danger of a mugging in the middle of the day than that late at night around here.” It was actually something Thorax had puzzled about before; were thieves in this area just not night owls? Not even in the rougher parts of town was there much criminal activity at night. Regardless, Thorax waved one hoof to push the subject aside, knowing Spike couldn’t dispute the matter. “So no, I wasn’t mugged, nor was I in any danger of being so. Besides, Trixie was right there to make sure I stayed safe at her insistence, so—”
Realizing his error, Thorax cut himself short, slapping a hoof to his mouth, looking wide-eyed at Spike. Spike however, merely raised an eyebrow at him again, overall looking smug. Dejected and realizing he had given himself away, Thorax then proceeded to take into his hooves the doorframe for the open bedroom door he had sadly never managed to get out of and proceeded to bang his head against it a few times in frustration.
Spike let him do so for a moment. “Did you enjoy the show?” he asked finally, in a perfectly calm tone. Thorax began to believe he had already been suspecting this was the case from the beginning, and was never as “unknowing” as Thorax had thought. It seemed he just wanted to get Thorax to admit it himself before calling it out.
Thorax sighed in defeat and decided he might as well confess all. “Yes, I did,” he admitted, then turned to face the dragon. He was pleased to note that, at the very least, Spike didn’t seem especially angry by all of this. Annoyed, yes, but that was better than what Thorax had feared. “Look, I’m sorry Spike, I shouldn’t have gone behind your back like this. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you at your word or didn’t want to listen to your advice, and I know that, after everything you’ve done for me, it seems like a poor repayment to you to have disregarded it like I did, it’s just…” Thorax sighed. “…I strongly felt I needed to be at the show.”
“Why?” Spike asked simply.
Thorax shook his head. “I can’t explain it. It didn’t really feel like a mere want or desire, and even I have to admit there was little logic to it…I…” he shrugged. “…just felt I needed to be there. Maybe that was selfish of me in a way…but it just felt like what I had to do. I…I can’t explain it.” He paused to let that sink in then continued as he had a new thought. “And it turns out Trixie was watching out for me being there too, so she would have noticed if I wasn’t there. And I know I said we weren’t going to meet up and chat after the show, but we did, and…”
Spike motioned for him to be silent. “It’s okay Thorax,” he said. “I’m not angry at you. Not really. Well…maybe annoyed.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “Friends don’t keep secrets from each other. Not petty ones like this at least.”
Thorax shifted awkwardly, ashamed. “This all probably does seem petty to you, doesn’t it?” he admitted. He winced to himself. “I guess I didn’t even really try that hard to explain my side of things to you, did I? I just…acted. I…I didn’t really think about it.”
Spike nodded. “No, you didn’t.” But then he sheepishly gazed down at the ground and sighed. “But…looking back, I realize now that I probably wasn’t being totally fair too. You might be right, maybe I was being too overprotective. I guess that incident where you were briefly arrested by the police left me more on edge than I realized and I was scared a repeat could happen, something we couldn’t walk away from so easily this time.” He shook his head. “But I should know better by now, known that you’re perfectly capable of looking after yourself and thinking and judging for yourself what to do. You’re not an idiot Thorax, I shouldn’t treat you like one just because I’m scared that one day it’d go awry.” He motioned to Thorax with one set of claws. “And clearly you managed fine, because you went to Trixie’s show and back completely without incident. I mean, Trixie suspects nothing, right?”
Thorax nodded. “Right,” he confirmed. “If she did, she would’ve said something about it. We actually spoke at length in fact, and I found her rather friendly once you got her going.”
Spike raised an eyebrow at this. “Really?” he said, sounding like he had a hard time picturing that.
Thorax shrugged. “Well, she was for me,” he relented, conceding that he couldn’t confirm this would be the case for everyone.
“And you trust her?”
“Absolutely.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way Thorax…but why?”
Thorax puzzled the question in his head for a moment. “Because she wants the same that I do. Friendship.” He grinned a little. “And anyway…Starlight Glimmer befriended her despite pressure from others…isn’t that kind of the same as you befriending me despite being told not to?”
Spike let out a single chuckle, grinning a little himself. “I see your point.”
Thorax rubbed the back of his head for a moment. “You know…she’s really not that different from us, Spike. She has her own negative image that she’s trying to overcome, and her lack of progress frustrates her at times. She admitted to me that the fact Princess Twilight is still so reluctant to trust her bothers her greatly, as this leaves Princess Twilight too quick to judge her, too easy for her to mistrust Trixie, and overall not showing faith that Trixie could ever be a friend.” Seeing Spike’s gaze gradually turn distant during all of this, Thorax nodded his head, looking at him knowingly. “That wouldn’t happen to remind you of someone we know…would it?”
Spike was still and quiet for a long moment. He did a fair job keeping his face unreadable, but Thorax was still able to sense the guilt that was beginning to well up within him, the dragon realizing Trixie’s situation had eerie parallels to their own. “At any rate,” he finally said, choosing to not acknowledge this, putting on a grin for Thorax’s benefit. “Clearly, I misjudged the situation…and I regret that now. You handled the situation just fine and were right about how it needed to be handled, and I should’ve trusted you to be able to do that more, been more willing to hear you out and not so quick to shut you down. And we’re not in danger because of it, so…unless all that changes between now and then…I’m not going to let myself worry about it further, and just trust you knew what you were doing.”
Thorax grinned a little. “That’s grown up of you to admit, Spike,” he pointed out. He fidgeted briefly with his hooves. “I don’t know if that means I’m completely blameless, though. You’re capable of thinking for yourself too, and I know that. I shouldn’t forget that just because I don’t agree. I mean, your concerns weren’t entirely unfounded, and they still warranted consideration. And I don’t like admitting it, but you still have a point…just because we’ve gotten lucky the past few times doesn’t mean I should be taking unnecessary risks…and Trixie could easily be seen as one. And…I guess I didn’t have the greatest of reasons to go…just a gut feeling that I acted impulsively on. At any rate, I’m still sorry I didn’t put a bit more trust in you myself and kept you more in the loop about what I was doing. You deserved that just as much as I did, but I was too…” he winced, but pressed on, knowing he needed to admit it. “…too selfish to do it.”
Spike chuckled sheepishly. “I’d like to think so,” he agreed. “But speaking of, as friendly as Trixie seems to be to you, she’s still tied closely enough to Twilight and the others that I hope I’m not still being too overprotective in believing that you should probably still be cautious in what you say around her during future interactions for now, just so to be careful to not give her too many details about ourselves that she might then pass on to Starlight and the others, unknowing or otherwise.”
“No, I agree,” Thorax said, who relented in seeing the need for this himself. “However, Trixie is going to be leaving the Vanhoover area on Monday to continue her traveling performances anyway, and she admitted she didn’t expect to be back up in this area soon. So…this is probably the end of the matter.” Inwardly though, he sort of wished that wasn’t so, but he knew he couldn’t help it either way.
Spike nodded. “That’ll make it even easier then,” he said. “Just maintain what we’ve been doing until then, and then we won’t need to worry about it so much afterwards once we’re out of contact with her again.”
“I suppose not,” Thorax relented, though inwardly he sort of wished it didn’t have to be that way. Interacting with Trixie had reminded him how tiring it had gotten lately keeping undercover and how limiting that could be for interacting with others more than in passing. He found himself wishing he didn’t have to stay in hiding like this anymore, and wished life would give him that chance.
“Anyway,” Spike went on, glancing down at the towel he still had wrapped around his torso and moved to step back into the bathroom. “I need to finish getting cleaned up. If you’re still going downstairs Thorax, tell Fly I’ll be down shortly.”
“Will do,” Thorax replied, and at last slipped downstairs.
Their day proceeded on fairly calmly and normally from there, and rather enjoyably, nothing of great notice took place for the remainder of the day. Therefore, they were able to sit back and relax a bit, and with the weight of trying to hide that he had gone to Trixie’s show without Spike’s approval now lightened, Thorax found his mind clearer and better able to enjoy it. By the Monday that followed the next day, however, it was back to work as things proved to be quite busy in the shop.
A major delivery of new autumn—and the winter that would eventually follow—stock that Fly Leaf had been expecting was delivered on the back porch that morning as they were opening the shop, resulting in over a dozen large boxes of items that now had to be placed somewhere. Most of this would need to be stored with the rest of their stockpiled stock until it was time to go out on display, leaving Spike quite occupied in back reorganizing things accordingly to fit and then put it all away. Meanwhile, Fly was busy taking stock of things in the front of the shop, determining where everything was presently, what she could stand to move or take off display entirely for the changing season, where to put the new stuff, and how she wanted it all best arranged. This had her going about the shop checking through the shelves and their contents and planning out what would need to make this all happen. It was slow work, made slower still by the fact that she was getting pulled away from it every now and then to assist customers on demand.
This left Thorax manning the cash register and front desk of the shop as he often did, but as both Fly and Spike were frequently preoccupied with other tasks, this also meant Thorax was more or less running the shop himself. Fortunately, while it wasn’t a slow day per se, it also wasn’t an extremely busy day in the shop, which meant Thorax was able to manage. But every now and then he was put in the situation of having multiple things demanding his attention at once and none of his usual coworkers free to assist in lightening the workload. He was soon looking forward to his upcoming lunchbreak more than usual, anxious for the breather it would provide.
Lucky for him, a gap in the chaos started to form as said break drew near, which meant he was less likely to need to delay taking the break because of other matters needing attention first. Though he knew he wasn’t home free just yet, and he watched the clock closely as it ticked closer to the designated time, hoping nothing would come up between now and then. Still, as customers continued to come and go from the shop without trouble and Thorax still being able to manage the eased workload the gap in activity had generated, it seemed he was safe. Naturally though, something did come up…but it turned out working in Thorax’s favor.
The local postmare had arrived to deliver the usual mail, but this time the mail included a medium sized package for Fly Leaf the postmare needed a signature for. When Thorax drew his employer’s attention to it from where she stood across the room, taking stock of the contents of one set of shelves she intended to rearrange, Fly reasoned it was likely the set of autumn-themed stationary samples she got from one of her stock suppliers, and thought Thorax would be more than okay to sign for it for her.
“You are my employee and just as part of this shop as I am, so in this case, I think your signature is just as good as mine,” she reasoned, busy with what she was doing and not in a good spot to pause.
And as the postmare had no issue with it, Thorax proceeded as instructed, and was in the middle of signing for the package as Thornton (he occasionally wondered if it was actually proper for him to do that, considering Thornton wasn’t his actual name) when he heard the front door of the shop open and close. He glanced up from the form he was signing just enough to confirm a new customer had entered and was now approaching the front desk, moving to stand behind the waiting postmare. “Welcome to Fly Leaf’s Books and Stationery,” he greeted as his eyes went back to the form he was signing. “I’ll be with you in just a moment.” He finished with the form and handed it back to the postmare. After a few parting remarks, the postmare then departed and Thorax turned his attention fully to the newcomer for the first time. “Now, how can I—Trixie!”
Sure enough, the performer stood before him on the other side of the front desk, amused by Thorax’s surprise to see her. She no longer wore the hat and cape like she did during the show and seemed back to the more casual state of mind like how Thorax had first met her at the store, yet that same smug attitude she typically carried was still about her. Thorax could tell she was inwardly pleased to see Thorax again though. Thorax felt the same, but at the same moment of his surprised explanation of Trixie’s name, he saw Fly Leaf look up from what she was doing out of the corner of his eye, and knew Fly would be listening curiously to everything that transpired now.
Trixie, however, seemed either unaware or didn’t care, her focus completely on Thorax. “Hey Mister Jar Catcher,” she said in a teasing tone, but then turned more frank. “I thought I’d pop in to say hello real quick.”
“Oh,” Thorax said. “Hello then.” He caught movement from Fly out of the corner of his eye again and caught her shooting a quick glance at the batwing doors leading into the back. No doubt she was thinking if Spike was still in the back, where he couldn’t see or hear this conversation transpire. He realized Fly didn’t know yet that Spike had found out Thorax had gone to Trixie’s show anyway, but at the same time, he felt he didn’t want Spike involved in this for the moment either. “So, uh, I thought you said you were leaving town today…”
“I am, in fact I was just heading out now,” Trixie said, and pointed out the front window. Sure enough, her wagon could be seen temporarily parked out front. “But I was passing by here, figured you’d be in here working, and, well…” she suddenly turned concerned, realizing something. “I’m not catching you at a bad time, am I?”
“No, no, not at all,” Thorax assured her quickly, and grinned. “I can always spare a moment for the Great and Powerful Trixie after all.”
Trixie gushed for a second under the playful pandering to her ego. “Well, a moment’s unfortunately all I have to spare, because like it or not, I’ve still got a schedule I need to keep,” she explained. “But a moment’s better than nothing to stop and give a few quick sendoffs, and anyway,” her grin turned teasing again. “I wanted to assure you that, yes, I was able to navigate Vanhoover’s streets back to my wagon just fine that evening.”
They both shared a quick laugh at this. Thorax used the moment to chance another quick glance at Fly Leaf and noticed that she had positioned herself as if to appear like she had gone back to work, but Thorax wasn’t fooled; she had moved herself closer and had an ear turned so to listen in. Thorax wasn’t sure to frown in disapproval or blush in embarrassment at this. At any rate, he decided to ignore her so to spare the well-being of his nerves for now.
Trixie then spoke again, bringing his attention back to her. “Anyway,” she said, reaching behind her to pull out a rolled up tube of poster paper sitting on her back. “I remembered you mentioning that your roommate had accidentally ruined the last poster I gave you, so as a parting gift, I thought I’d give you a replacement before I left.”
“Ah!” Thorax said, accepting the rolled up poster. “I’ll have to make sure to keep this one away from any orange juice then.”
“You do that,” Trixie with a chuckle. “I don’t want to have to run all the way back up here again just to get you yet another poster.”
Thorax chuckled too. He sheepishly toyed with the rolled up poster in his hooves for a second. “Well then, thank you for the new poster Trixie,” he said. “And thank you again for the invitation to your wonderful show this past weekend. I really did enjoy it.” He extended a hoof for shaking. “Do have safe travels.”
“I certainly intend to,” Trixie replied, shaking the offered hoof. “And thank you for all of your advice, suggestions, and support. Trixie isn’t going to forget that any time soon in her travels.”
“My pleasure. So where are you heading next, anyway?”
“In the direction of the Smokey Mountains. There’s a little village near there that, according to rumor, is simply starved for a wowing display of awe-inspiring magic.” Trixie proudly put a hoof to her chest. “Naturally, I intend to give them all that and more.”
Thorax smirked knowingly. “Naturally.”
“After that, I intend to keep heading south, in the direction of Canterlot, stopping at points of interest along the way. I’d like to stop at Ponyville too if I can manage it in my busy schedule and visit Starlight Glimmer, but we’ll see where fate takes me.” Trixie then nodded her head apologetically and turned for the door. “Anyway, I really would love to keep talking, but unfortunately, my moment to do so is up and should go. I need to be on my way. Got a lot of ground I want to cover before having to stop for the night.”
Thorax nodded back, understanding. “I won’t delay you then. See you around, Trixie.”
Trixie paused at the door and glanced back at him with a grin. “See you around, Thornton,” she said. “I hope to hear from you again soon.”
“Likewise,” Thorax replied as the mare then slipped out the front door and back out into the busy street.
He watched her hook herself back up to her wagon and start to pull away through the front window, a little sorry she couldn’t stay longer. He then turned his attention to the new poster she had given him and unrolled it, holding it up before him with his hooves. He examined the familiar cheery graphics with a grin then noticed with a bigger grin that Trixie had taken the liberty of signing this one, her signature proudly on display in the bottom corner of the poster. He definitely decided this one he wanted to keep around for as long as he could.
He proceeded to lower the poster again so to start rolling it back up until he could put it away properly in his room, only to notice Fly Leaf had repositioned herself so to stand directly behind the poster, wearing that knowing grin again while tilting her head slightly to one side so to gaze at the back of the poster. “…what?” Thorax prompted, giving her a puzzled look.
Fly merely nodded her head in the direction of the backside of the poster. Still puzzled, Thorax gently flipped it around and realized there was something written on the back too. A quick reading showed that Trixie had jotted down what appeared to be a spell matrix for a mobile mailing spell preset for a specific destination, and some brief instructions on how to use it. Even though Thorax was quick to identify it and the intent behind it clear, he found himself flabbergasted by it anyway. “What’s this, then?” he asked aloud without thinking.
Fly strolled towards him. “I believe it is contact information,” she said as she stepped past the front desk where Thorax sat. She gave him a wink as she passed then proceeded on back to where she had been working taking inventory.
Thorax watched her walk past, confused for a brief second, but then it suddenly and at last clicked what it was she had been trying to imply to him since he returned the night of the show. He felt his heartbeat quicken as a result. “Miss Fly, Trixie and I are just friends,” he quickly assured his employer.
Fly glanced up at him, not appearing the slightest bit deterred by this. “Well then, I suppose there’d be no harm in keeping in touch with a friend now is there?” she reasoned.
Thorax opened his mouth to immediately reply, then stopped and closed it again so to think about it for a moment. “No, I suppose there’s really not,” he conceded finally, permitting himself a small grin.
Fly returned the grin, and gave him yet another wink before returning to her work.
As soon as his lunchbreak formally began not long thereafter, thankfully only slightly delayed, Thorax brought the poster up to his and Spike’s room. After only a moment of surveying both it and the room he stood in, he finally opted to hang it on the wall adjacent to the bathroom door, above his sleeping nest. He was very pleased by how it looked on the wall, but he did start to wonder what Spike would think about it once he noticed the new poster.
He didn’t have to wait long, because it was only a matter of minutes later when Spike abruptly stepped into the room. “Hey Thorax,” he greeted, glancing in the direction of the changeling lying on his sleeping nest and flipping through a book before turning his attention to the papers on their desk. “Just grabbing some story notes I want to work on while I eat lunch downstairs.”
“You’re not interrupting anything anyway,” Thorax assured the dragon as he watched Spike sift through the papers.
Spike then found what he was looking for and turned around, facing Thorax fully for the first time. His eyes darted to Trixie’s poster hung on the wall behind Thorax and took it in for a brief second. Though he sensed a burst of dissatisfaction in the dragon’s emotions, Spike acted nonchalant about it. “Tried your hoof at some redecorating?” he quipped, nodding his head at it.
Thorax glanced up at it. “Trixie dropped by and gave it to me on her way out of Vanhoover,” he explained.
“Ah,” Spike said, nodding his head slowly. “Well, now that she has, I suppose that’s that for her then as far as we’re concerned.”
Thorax gazed at Spike for a second then took a deep breath, knowing he needed to say it. “I’m writing her a letter.”
Spike paused, brow furrowing as he shifted his gaze off the poster and back onto Thorax again. Thorax again sensed the burst of dissatisfaction but also surprise and puzzlement. So to confirm he was serious, he quietly used his magic to pull out the letter he had begun writing to Trixie for Spike to see. Spike glanced at it for a long second.
“I’m assuming you plan for this to be a regular occurrence,” Spike reasoned categorically.
“That depends on whether or not she writes back,” Thorax responded in the same tone. He opted not to say that he fully expected this to be the case though.
Spike stared at the letter Thorax had started for a long moment. Thorax got the strong impression that he did not approve, but at the same time seemed to be trying to keep it to himself for Thorax’s sake. “The same rules apply,” he finally instructed, turning his gaze back on Thorax. “No telling her anything she doesn’t need to know about us, for our own safety.”
“I know,” Thorax assured the dragon.
He fully expected Spike to do something to object further given Spike’s emotive attitude towards the idea, but to Thorax’s surprise, Spike didn’t make comment on it. “Well, enjoy your break while you can, because it looks like it’s going to keep being busy today,” Spike said instead as he turned for the door, ending the discussion without event. “Don’t let Fly Leaf work you too hard while I’m stuck in the back.”
“You know she’ll do no such thing, Spike,” Thorax replied as he watched the dragon step out of the room again. “Enjoy your lunch.”
He continued to stare after Spike even after the dragon had exited and closed the door to the room behind him. He briefly wondered why Spike hadn’t commented further on the matter; he clearly wanted to. Whatever his reasons though, Thorax decided he would leave the subject alone and instead, he pulled out the slip of paper he had transferred the given spell matrix for mobile mailing to (having written the spell matrix down in his native changeling language) so to not lose it and resumed writing what he suspected was going to be the first of many such correspondences with the traveling magician. Until Spike did comment further, Thorax decided he would keep the details of this newfound correspondence as it developed to himself, not because of any malice or distrust towards Spike, but because it felt…private.
But as it happened, that really was the end of it. Spike never did comment again on the matter.