I’m not sure what to make of these adventurers. Aside from Illya, the glaring dwarf, they seem to assume that I’m Raya’s pet, and because of that, I must be under her control. If it means we won’t get attacked, then I can pretend to be a pet for a while.
“Never been extorted by a Dragon before...”
“I reckon you oughta be payin'' for that experience as well, boss.”
I’m inclined to agree, but I don’t want to reveal that I understand them just yet, and I feel like I would be giving that secret away if I demanded more money right after Banyai suggested it. For some reason, Turgai the scalefolk seems to follow my every move with those eyes of his. That’s worth watching out for.
The dwarf, though, Illya, is very obvious about giving me the stink eye and I’m pretty sure she’s expecting me to be hostile. And to be fair, that could still happen, but it’s up to them. They’ve been behaving well so far, so I should as well.
“Ain''t no way that''s the Black Dragon of Death, boss. ''Cept for makin'' a fuss and fleecin’ you, which I’m all for, it looks fine sittin’ there, watchin’ us.”
“First of all, fuck you, Banyai. Second, the reports weren’t unanimous. Most of them claimed that the beast was rampaging through the eastern plains, leading to the downfall of Plainshold, but some included mention of an instigating event caused by a faction within the Guild. And you’ve heard the merchants talk, they won’t shut up about meeting a Dragon up close, but they aren’t part of the Guild, so they aren’t in the reports.”
I don’t really care about all of that, I got paid and now I’m gonna get breakfast! I’ve gotta stash these two coins, so I use the sticky nature of my tongue to pick them up and swallow them, and the familiar tingle of power flows through me, but it’s so small compared to what it used to be. With that sorted, it’s time to get some actual food. Grabbing the carcass and rolling it over, I rip into its belly with a claw, letting the insides spill into outsides. Digging in, the sweet taste of delicious blood fills-
“Whoa whoa whoa! Wait just a moment here, Dragon. You got paid, so we share the kill.”
What?! That’s so unfair! I’m big and need lots of food. Turning my gaze toward Raya and giving her a pleading look reveals that she isn’t helpful here, she just laughs at me...
“You sure you oughta be tellin'' it what to do, boss?“
Instead of looking up at me, the giant commander begins looking down at Banyai with a scent of anger. Ooh, he’s in trouble. Giving my lips a lick to clear the dripping blood, I settle in to listen to this group drama, I’m curious how they handle disagreements as adventurers.
“I’m just sayin’, seein’ all them chompers, I sure ain’t tellin'' it to stop.“
“Shut yer trap, Banyai. Boss, I cannae condone workin’ with a Dragon. Me kin’s got legends spanning thousands o’ years all tellin’ o’ Dragons bringin'' ruin an’ devastation. Trustin’ tha beast would be a mistake.”
The Boss Commander seems unsure of what to do, glancing at Raya, who seems content to just stand around smiling. I’m getting the impression that he wants her input on the matter, but he’s reluctant to ask, which is silly, she’s great at settling things.
“Turgai, you got anything to add to the conversation? Might as well get everyone’s opinion on the matter before we proceed.”
“I would simply ask the Great Dragon whether she would be amicable to a shared reward. I would add that her ally deserves a cut as well, considering her contribution in aiding Banyai’s attack.”
“What, y''all wanna ask her? I reckon she ain''t gonna understand a lick of what we say, Scales.”
I’m not sure how the scalefolk mage knows, but the look he’s giving me makes it pretty clear that he does. And that he has a plan to expose my great deception. Hopefully, whatever is giving me away is something I can hide in the future, so get to the explaining, Scales! He takes a shiny coin from his pocket and holds it up for me to see, and I want it.
“Great Dragon, I will offer one coin if you would point to the shortest person present.”
That feels like a trap and I’m not gonna do it. In fact, I’m gonna keep looking at this Turgai person and not be trapped by his weird scheme.
“Okay, ya win this round, Scales. She gets what we’re sayin’.”
What?! I didn’t look at the shortest person, so that means I didn’t understand! I’m just a very large and friendly creature who happens to have helped them out because Raya wanted to.
We’re not really getting anywhere as the Commander just closes his eyes and stands there, looking thoughtful as he pinches the bridge of his nose. Illya of the Stink Eye is still going strong, and the poisoner and mage seem to have other things to talk about, which leaves me without much to do.
“Banyai, what is that tiny creature you picked up?”
“Gobbo, she says. Can''t say I''ve ever laid eyes on a goblin like that before, and the gal’s packed with muscle. She’d be a mighty good fit for the team.“
“Nah, I’m the Dragonbringer, I do Dragonbringer stuff, not adventurer stuff.”
As she mentions being the Dragonbringer, the team shares a few stares, seemingly unsure of how to respond to that, but I know how to respond! She would be a great addition to their team because she’s great, but she chose me! And just for that, I’ll forget the sass about me not being a dragon. But it’s not quite nudge-worthy yet. She’s gonna have to work for a nudge. In fact, I’m gonna nudge her to show her what she’s missing out on! That kind of reinforcement should be enough to keep her out of trouble for a while.
“Are you dummies part of that cultist thing? If you are, Kira will have to eat you.”
So much for her keeping out of trouble...
“Uh... No. What cultist thing is that?”
Secrets have no meaning to Raya as she launches into an explanation of everything going on with that whole vile steel affront situation. To her credit, she doesn’t mention my venom being useful to fight it, which is good, since I do want to keep that a secret so I don’t end up getting hunted for my drool. But as far as I can smell, none of them have that peculiar cultist scent.
The adventurers are frowning quite a bit as she tells them about all the things involving Plainshold, and judging by their intense stares, they’re paying attention. I’m gonna get some food instead, though. Digging into the beast, the first thing that becomes apparent is that it is far too early in the day for me to be wrong multiple times. My tail wasn’t stone-shattering, unless the boarhino’s skull was tougher than stone, and now my jaws aren’t bone-crushing... At least my claws still rend flesh.
These bones are way too tough, geez. What is this beast made of?
While they’re frustrating me, I take a moment to listen to Raya, and she has begun talking about fending off mire panthers and helping Oakhold. She seems to have them hanging on her every word, and she’s loving it, but the Commander seems a little lost in thought.
He stares at me for a moment as I pull out something delicious from the beast. He isn’t talking, so it isn’t my problem.
“Hey boss, y’all reckon them cult folks could be the faction?”
“Maybe... I don’t know, but there has been unusual occurrences lately, and they have been pushing strange policies... We’ll need to be careful from now on. Raya, was it? What sort of magic do these cultists use? What are their strengths and weaknesses?”
“Don’t know, don’t know, getting eaten. Kira can smell them.”
She’s not wrong, but it is making them a little nervous to hear her talk about eating people so casually, but at least she didn’t say that I’ve been doing the eating, so I’m not gonna fuss. I still can’t crack these bones, though, and it really drives home the point that I chose wisely not to jump on this thing’s back to rip out its spine. I’m not sure I could do it without being powered up.
“Raya, could you inform your Dragon that we would like the beast’s heart? She’s welcome to the meat and any other organs. It’ll be too heavy for us to carry back, so we just want the feet, heart, tusks, horn, and skull.”
“Sure. Kira, what he said. So those are the valuable parts? Why not take the hide, too? It’s tough and would make strong armor, wouldn’t it?”
“In theory, yes, but it’s tough and stiffens instead of becoming malleable when processed. But it is useful and that, along with the bones and meat, is valuable, but it’s also too heavy to carry back, so we take the most valuable parts and leave the rest for predators. A well-fed wolf won’t hunt livestock for a few weeks.”
That sounds like some sort of saying. And it sounds like they intend to abscond with the prizes! I’m not gonna get involved in Raya’s negotiations here, but I feel like I should be compensated more for my broken tail blade. Giving Raya an inquisitive look, she responds with a smile while telling the adventurers that she’s fine with them taking the valuable parts, as long as we get the rest.
With her consent, the group of adventurers starts processing the boarhino, working together with remarkable efficiency to cut it into pieces they can carry. I’ll just step back to give them room to work. Having a moment to himself, Turgai cuts a few strips of flesh and tosses them my direction, and with my incredible skill, I catch them mid-air, earning me a smile from the scalefolk. With a larger chunk in hand, he throws it my direction again and with excellent use of my neck’s flexibility, I snap my jaws closed around that chunk as well.
He continues his game by changing up the direction a few times, forcing me to keep an eye on the wily scalefolk, wondering where he might throw the next treat. Pulling his arm back, he throws another chunk, but he makes it look like he threw it right, but really, he threw it left! He’s getting cheeky, and I’m gonna have to be extra ready if I want to win this.
He tries all sorts of throwing methods, but I keep winning until I fall victim to his greatest and most cruel deception! He didn’t throw it that time, it was a feint and I didn’t catch anything but air... Puff of punishment smoke it is!
He laughed at my failed attempt at catching the treat, and now the others are laughing at him for coughing, so take that, you scalefolk deceiver.
“Turgai, if you lose an arm playing with the Dragon, you’re paying for your own healing.”
“Do not worry, Ayra, Kira is a gentle giant capable of remarkable consideration.”
“It’s true, I am.”
Turgai busies himself cutting more strips of meat as the other three stare at me with mixed expressions. It doesn’t take long before another slice flies my way and I catch it in the air with very little effort. Raya seems to feel a little left out as she moves to stand in front of me, and as Turgai throws another piece, he aims low and Raya steals it from me! She catches it expertly with her mouth, though, so she gets a point for that, but I still wanted it.
“Well, are we gonna have ourselves a rattle ‘bout that there talkin’ Dragon?”
“The Dragon isn’t a priority, Banyai. That feels fucking weird to say... We need to get these goods back to Margwen and find information on this supposed cult. If they are as dangerous as Raya says, we need to gather allies to fight them. Speaking of, two days ago, a black Dragon was seen assaulting the Fortress City of Margwen, reports say it was fought off by a lone earth mage, but the mage denies having fought. Was that you, Dragon?”
“No, and any damage done to the walls also wasn’t me. In fact, I was in an entirely different city. Oakhold! Yeah, I was in Oakhold. Right, Raya?”
“No, you said you found a mage while hunting snakes, and since you didn’t kill him, you brought him-”
“Shut up, Raya! I’m not paying for a new wall! Lunch can take care of that, it was to rescue him!”
Dang it. That smug little rascal is smiling at me. She’s not even pretending she didn’t do that on purpose! I have no idea how I can possibly punish such a severe transgression...This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Illya begins arguing with the others about ignoring me, something or other about how I kept it a secret that I could understand them and speak, but both Banyai and Turgai argue that by paying attention, she would have noticed too. The most egregious offense caused by Illya is that Turgai has stopped throwing me treats...
The Commander seems to mull things over for a moment as he furrows his brow in thought.
“Illya is right, we’ve been too complacent considering what we’re dealing with here. Raya, is Kira under your control?”
Raya brings a finger to her chin in an exaggerated thinking stance before looking up at me.
“Kira, are you under my control?”
“If the mood strikes, I suppose."
As it turns out, my answer doesn’t seem to put them at ease. Well, Turgai returns to throwing me treats, earning him a fierce glare from Illya, but I support his willingness to keep me entertained.
“Turgai, ye cannae keep treatin’ that thing as a pet! Boss, we need’ta be on guard should tha beast turn on us! It bein’ clever makes it more dangerous, nae less!”
The Commander seems to be stuck in consideration mode as he takes in Illya of the Stink Eye’s grievances. She’s making some reasonable points about me attacking if they do anything wrong and that I want their money, which are both sort of true. It’ll take a bit more than just anything, but it’s up to them whether they’re treats or new buddies.
Out of the blue, Banyai agrees with her that they’re too complacent around me, swaying the Commander toward getting done with the processing of our prey, so they can get back for some day-rest. Aside from Illya, there’s not really any hostility as the three of them return to working on the beast and dividing up the materials they extract.
The process of skinning the skull reveals that I may not have cut through it, but I did do quite a lot of damage to it as the cheekbones have been reduced to chunks of varying sizes. A sense of pride wells up inside me as I watch the destruction wrought by my tail swipe, and I’m feeling impressed with myself enough to ignore the chunk of meat Turgai threw at my face. I didn’t catch that one, and now it’s stuck to my snout.
Glancing at Turgai, he prepares another cut, but Illya and the Commander seem to grow still, waiting for me to react, so I do by using my tongue to snatch the meat. I’m not sure why there’s a sudden distrust from the Commander, he was swayed by Raya, not me, so he should take it up with her.
Turgai has been cutting away at the neck of the beast, revealing the spine, and then he stops throwing me treats as he begins working to sever the spinal cord, clearing his throat as he gets to work.
“It is Lord Faran’s teachings that allow me to trust the Great Dragon, Illya. We must not rush to break others, lest they break us in turn for our ignorance and wrathful sins. They showed up and helped when they could have attacked in our vulnerability, yet you show them hostility when they show kindness. That is not what Lord Faran teaches.”
He deserves a nudge for defending me, but it seems to be getting in the way of their group dynamic. Nudging him, I step up and grab hold of the boarhino’s body with one claw and the head with the other, empowering my muscles with magic, severing the beast’s spine where Turgai was cutting. We’ve warned them of cultists, helped them with this big animal, and treated them well, so our business is concluded.
Raya seems to pick up on my intentions as she jumps up on the beast and then onto me. Stepping over the carcass, I reposition it so I can hook my claws under it and into the rib cage, and with that, I spread my wings and we’re off. Kinda. This thing is freakin’ heavy and I’m having to push more and more magic into my wings to fly, but I do manage it. The second problem is steering, and I have underestimated how much I use my tail blade as a fin, and now I’m having problems.
“Hold on! We didn’t finish butchering the horned steelback!”
As Raya and I make our way toward Tuiran, the wind makes a weird noise, but I’m way too focused on trying to steer. Raya seems to be enjoying the turbulent ride, but I’m struggling here. It helps to just brute-force it by using my wings, but geez, my tail is important. With how much effort I have to put in to fly, I worry what would happen if I lost both my tail blades. Geez, I’d be tumbling through the air like a giant murder ball waiting to land on someone, assuming I could even fly.
It’s slow going, but even with the difficulties of uneven flight and carrying heavy cargo, we’re probably gonna be in Tuiran by noon. We’ve been flying for a while and my wings are getting tired from all of this, and I need a break. There’s a clearing up ahead that looks good from a distance, so changing course a bit, we aim for it so I can just take a breather for a minute.
“Are you okay, Kira? You don’t look too good.”
Dang... It might be worse than I expected, and I really need a rest. Flying over the clearing, I just let go of the boarhino, and it crashes to the ground with an impressive thud. And with that, I soar down as best I can, and we land well enough to not call it crashing.
“Hey Raya, what do you think those adventurers were doing out there in the middle of the night? That’s an odd time to hunt, isn’t it?”
“Banyai told me they were hunting that horned steelback, but it attacked their camp, so they had no choice. It had been hunting people and animals for weeks, so they needed to kill it. We did good, Kira.”
Ooh... She starts scratching my chin as she says we did well, and now she’s doing great. Keep scratching, this is just what I need to regain some strength. Unfortunately, she doesn’t keep scratching, in fact, she just leaves me here. That’s a bit rude.
“It fell over here. It has to be wounded. There, next to the steelback. By the Gods, that must have been a fight worth seeing. Do you think you can tame it?”
Dang it... I think I’m about to be attacked. I’ll just keep lying here and let them get closer, if they try anything, I’ll consider that consent and bite them.
“Do I think I can tame it?! No, I can’t tame it, it’s a damn Dragon! What do you expect me to do, throw some treats and say pspspsps? Let’s just leave before it wakes up.”
Isn’t that basically what Turgai did?... Dang it, am I that easy to appease? I might have to set higher standards in the future so I can maintain some dignity...
Judging by their voices, it seems to be a man and a woman of some sort, they don’t smell like anything and I can’t hear their footsteps, so I assume they’re using those stupid sneaking potions. That’s annoyingly smart, and they do still have a chance to get away, so they should probably take it instead of lingering until I stop pretending to be asleep. But they aren’t going away, in fact, the man seems to be getting closer instead.
“Look at it! Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Reaching me, she starts running a hand over my scales, and as far as I can tell, she’s too caught up in touching me to pay attention to much of anything.
“Oh hellcursed luck... Yes, I have seen something like that... And so have you. Remember the beast that told you to listen to me more? I’m pretty sure this is that one. And I told you it lied about being small!”
“How do you figure? That was days ago, and we didn’t get a good look at it.”
Seems he hasn’t learned his lesson. Their chat devolves into bickering about whether I’m me from the cave or not. All I see from these two is bickering and arguing, and they could do with some couples'' therapy, but I’m not willing to be their therapist, so I’ll just wait for them to leave.
Getting some rest is proving difficult with these two nearby, so to encourage them to leave, I move a bit, which does make them go quiet for a while.
“Okay, fine, let’s get out of here then.”
“Do you dummies have any magic potions?”
The sudden screaming is making my subterfuge difficult as it startles me, geez... All Raya did was ask a question... The duo begins shushing Raya, telling her to be quiet so she doesn’t wake me.
“She’s already awake. The Dragon snores, so you’d know if she were sleeping.”
I don’t snore, do I? I don’t know... I’ll have to ask Jeannie about it, since she’s the only trustworthy source on teaseable subjects like that. The guy seems to be curious about the subject as well, as he starts talking about how lizards don’t snore.
“I’ll let you leave if you give me a couple of magic potions. Or the Dragon can just eat you to recover magic.”
Harsh, but they’re quick to agree to her terms. We could run a great racket by extorting adventurers, I’m sure they have some good stuff to add to my hoard.
Since Raya has already outed me as being awake, I’ll just get up instead of lying here. I do feel better now, having had a moment to relax. They seem a lot less relaxed as I stand up, though. They look scared as they stare up at me, but they’re the ones who decided to get so close, so it’s not my fault. It does convince them that Raya’s deal is a pretty good one, and they’re quick to bring out a potion each, handing them off to Raya.
Raya tells me to get closer and I do as she uncorks the potions, but one of them smells wrong. I tell her as much and she frowns, gaining a fierce look. Taking a potion in each hand, she holds them apart so I can tell exactly which is off. As I do, she throws it in the face of the guy before corking the other potion and leaping at him. Her sudden weight makes him lose his balance and as he falls, she brings her nails close to his throat in a very threatening manner.
“What was in the potion?!”
She’s making it pretty clear that she wants answers, and the woman draws a sword to help him, but I’m still here, so stepping forward, I push her to the ground and pin her as Raya gets to work finding out what’s going on.
“It was a magic potion! I swear! It restores magic!”
I can’t even smell that he’s afraid because of that stupid sneaking potion, but he looks far more afraid than someone who just tried to poison me should be. Although, I don’t really have much experience with poisoners.
“It’s true! We bought the two potions together, and he’s too dumb to plot something like that, he can barely plot his way out of being responsible for breaking camp! And how would we know we would be stumbling upon a Dragon?!”
Those are fair points, and he does seem like a bit too irresponsible to plan any sort of assassination attempt. The alternative is that some vendor is selling tainted potions, and I can’t deny the possibility of that. They end up telling us who sold them the potions, too. I have no idea what these people do in terms of food and drug safety, but if something smells that bad and wrong, they’re not doing enough. Smelling the spots where the liquid landed on the ground, it becomes obvious that it’s the same wrong feeling that the affront has, and that worries me.
“Raya, we have to go warn Turgai and his friends. That potion is somehow related to the vile steel.”
“Do we kill them?”
I let her know that I think we should leave them, I’m pretty sure they’re victims. She takes her hand away from the guy’s throat and jumps onto my arm and then my head. She doesn’t stop there, it seems, as she continues onto my nose and grabs hold of my nostril, telling me to open my mouth. As I do, she throws in the untainted magic potion.
I’ll return for my boar later, but now I need to be heroic and helpful, so spreading my wings, I-
“Wait! What was that? What was in that potion?!”
She seems genuinely distressed, and it isn’t getting any better as Raya explains what vile steel is and how it kills people, but I guess the more people who know, the better. With that out of the way, I spread my wings and-
“Wait! I bought more potions, could you check them for me?”
Dang it, just let us leave... She starts pulling out potions and uncorking them one by one as I sniff them. I’m pretty sure this destroys their shelf life, but then that’s better than dying from some awful poison. The guy is quick to do the same and it turns out they have a dozen potions between them, and three were poisoned. That’s a lot, I wonder if they just got unlucky, or the cultists really have enough to sell one group that many tainted potions...
I point out the bad ones and she corks up all the potions while marking the tainted ones. She even puts them in a separate compartment of her bag, so they won’t accidentally take the wrong one.
I’m a little suspicious of it, but they don’t seem competent enough to be tricksters, which could be a trick... I’m gonna believe they''re good people, though. It’s a lot of deception to trick me after I was already leaving. So spreading my wings, I wait to see if there’s another wait coming, but it seems they’re done interrupting me, so we take off toward the southwest again. I don’t want Turgai to end up poisoned, and he seems the most likely to drink magic potions on that team.
As it turns out, flying without a massive steelback weighing me down does make it easier to steer, even with a broken tail. I’m also a lot faster, emphasizing how much I was struggling with the dang beast because I can already see the group. Giving a roar to alert them to my presence, they stop as we aim for their location.
They’re only getting a little into a fighting stance, which I get, we’re acquaintances at best, so it’s okay to be wary. Flying over them, I go into a hover and land slowly on my hind legs, showing that I’m not gonna fight them. Raya is quick to launch into an explanation of what we found with tainted potions and where the two goofballs bought them.
Without question, Turgai brings out his potions and arranges them in front of him. As he begins uncorking them, I give them a sniff and none of them are tainted.
“Turgai, you just ruined all of those...”
“Lord Faran’s teachings show us that our equipment is replaceable, but we are not. A lost bounty is worth less than our lives lost to greed."
With a shrug, Banyai repeats what Turgai did and arranges his own potions. It turns out one of his was tainted, and he corks up the tainted one before handing it to Turgai. As soon as Turgai grabs it, I feel a tingle of magic, and it occurs to me that I should have tried my magic eyes to see if I could tell a difference like that. Raya has the same thought as I feel a smidge of my magic disappear as she jumps down and joins Turgai in staring intently at the tainted potion.
The two start exchanging words, describing what they’re seeing and how it differs from a regular magic potion.
Everyone seems to take it quite seriously as Turgai confirms that the potion isn’t what it’s supposed to be, and that’s finally enough to make Illya check her potions, too. I don’t like her, but vile steel is a fate she does not deserve.
While the Commander and Illya get busy spreading out potions, Turgai walks a bit away, pulls out a rod from his bag, and jams it into the ground.
“Great Kira, may I ask that you scorch this brightsteel rod so that I may conduct an experiment for a moment?”
Easy request, I guess. So I tell him to step back as I unleash my flames, creating a patch of ashen vegetation. With a snap of his fingers, he indicates that I should stop, and I do. The rod isn’t as straight as it was when he placed it, but he doesn’t seem to mind as he pours the contents of the tainted potion onto the rod.
Every drop hitting the rod sprouts into a tiny branch of vile steel, proving the presence of the affront. I’m not sure how he’s doing it, I’m pretty sure it was supposed to require a soul to grow, but he did it without one as far as I can tell.
“Well, if there was any doubt before, then this settles it... By the Gods, what are they up to...”
Just to be sure, I give them all a thorough smell, protests be damned, and they all come back clean. As far as I can tell, none of them have been infected by the affront. I don’t even know if a single potion is enough, but I don’t want to experiment on someone to find out. Eating people is one thing, but I’m not a monster who would do that to folks.
The Commander is quick to thank us for bringing this to his attention, his casual demeanor from our earlier encounter is gone, replaced by a very stern expression and tone. As it turns out, Turgai is a lot more thankful, which I determine by the fact that he’s tossing me a treat. A delicious strip of spiced meat wrapped around some sort of sour fruit. Seeing my enjoyment, he seems to decide I deserve another before the Commander tells him that they need to get going. Giving him a lick, I let them leave.
They’re heading back to that fortress place, it looks like, but we can’t leave this affront rod standing. Raya already knows what to do as she grabs hold of my nostril and puts her feet to my lower lip before collecting a handful of venom to throw at the tiny spire, causing it to corrode in seconds. That’s that taken care of, now we just need to head back for my steelback and bring it the last of the way to Tuiran.
These magic potions are really something, I’m feeling quite good. Not as good as after eating a bunch, but still a lot better than I was prior to having it thrown into my gullet. We can’t linger here, though, so we take off back to my steelback, and I know exactly where it is, so point to Kira for not getting lost.
The clearing is exactly where we left it, and in it, my steelback is exactly where we left it, so I just land on top of it and hook my claws into the rib cage again. With that ready, we take off with great effort, pushing a bunch of magic into my wings to ease my flight, and now we’re finally heading back to Tuiran. Dang thing is heavy, though... I’m gonna be so upset if I end up being told that these bones aren’t worth anything.