51 (A-SIDE): I Thought We Were Friends, Man

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## Summary

### What's a Little Mind Reading Between Friends

Mujie tries to ask Mahi about why he left home and who “Pearl” is, but Mahi can’t seem to remember. He recounts the story as he knows it—he went to his secret spot in the Moa Moa Lagoon, then woke up in a human body on a boat headed for Lhoam, where he was arrested for public indecency—but something sounds wrong to his own ears.

He admits he originally remembered that Pearl is his one true love, but with a few months between him and the incident, he can’t remember who Pearl is at all, and he can’t seem to get things to add up. Why was it so important for him to go to the Lagoon? Who is Pearl? Why can’t he remember what happened to him before he was made a man?

Tired of watching Mahi spin his wheels, Eton decides to go straight to the source with Detect Thoughts. Surprised and betrayed, Mahi attempts to Counterspell him, but Eton counters right back. Free to probe around in his mind, Eton focuses on his subconscious, learning that something powerful is suppressing Mahi’s fractured memories. He gleans that Mahi was doing something very important when he was changed, and tries to investigate further to see what caused it. He hears the dark, seductive whisper of Wrath once more, and knows that change wasn’t brought about by divine Ark, but something far more sinister. Mahi pushes Eton away, and tries to gather himself on a bench flanked by the CoComelon Crew. His friends surmise that the earring Mahi sports may have protected him from whatever happened at the lagoon. Eton and Mujie turn their attentions to the newspaper once again, noticing the article was written by one Tuck Tassryn, famously unscrupulous reporter for the Wetlands Herald. Ever saddled with another task that needs doing, Pombo makes his exit, but not before reverse pickpocketing a note into Eton’s robes without him noticing.

### Two Kinds of Friendship

Eton begins to message the twin Generals about who on the royal court is getting married, and they take turns trolling him until Tira steps in and beats them at their own game. Meanwhile, Eton and Mujie get in a slapfight over Pombo’s note, and end up ripping it in half. Luca tries to psych Mahi up about returning to the Lanikai Kingdom as Uli’s chosen, and Mahi wonders if that will finally convince his father he isn’t a failure. Vallor and Luca have a heart to heart over their newfound freedom from the cult. Vallor decides to stay at Fortuna for a while before making his next moves, whatever they may be. Luca learns that his refusal to let Eton take his blood was his first “no;” they hug things out.

### First Date

Later, Eton and the gang head back to Samsara, and Eton tries and fails to lose the rest of the party at the entrance gate. Mujie casts Pass Without Trace and the gang follows Eton to the docks, where they see Pombo speaking with a hooded figure near a canal boat. Eton uses invisibility to sneak up on Pombo and definitely-not-Peeks having an argument about Peeks’s collection of antique books that Pombo claims is at least partially his. Luca wildshapes into a rat to hang on to the side of the gondola, and Eton backtracks, becomes visible again, and approaches Pombo like, you know, a normal date would.

Pombo, dressed to the nines (for him), proposes a canal tour of the city, and shows Eton some landmarks and the way the city has changed for the better. Eton notices that the canal water itself is charged with Ark, and seems to power some of the boats in the city. Pombo shows him the Guild Hall, Mitro’s Arkspring (which has begun to resurface as a kind of crooked, half-submerged palace), the Odeon and the Theater of Timora in the Arts Archipelago, and finally, the Rat’s Nest, before the final stop on their tour: The Powder Keg.

### The Powder Keg

Peeks directs the boat to a secret passageway in the canals beneath some buildings in the city center, and through an illusory wall to a hidden dock underneath a buzzing tavern. Pombo and Eton disembark from the gondola, and so does their stowaway Luca, who dismisses his Wild Shape and tells them to have fun in characteristically dramatic fashion.

Unlike Eton, Luca immediately clocks that the Powder Keg is actually a secret Fey bar, and runs off upstairs to get tipsy. Meanwhile, outside, Mujie and co. finally lost Eton’s trail, and Mujie and Palani resort to guessing where they may have ended up. With two city natives on the case, they quickly sleuth their way to a hidden alley with a curious little tavern entrance. After Tira tells the bouncers their group includes Mitro’s chosen and Mujie plays up his role, the bouncers relent and allow them in, though they hardly believe their claims. Inside, Mujie chats up the barmaid Mandy and namedrops Pombo. She pours them all drinks, and Mujie casts Aura of Purity so no one gets Fey roofied—especially Mahi, who seems a little moody…

## Quotes

#### *BOUNDARIES? NEVER HEARD OF THEM:*

> "Don't resist."
>
>

*—Cat, to Mahi, before using Detect Thoughts*

#### *LUCA IS, FOR ONE:*

> “Glad you could make it. Sorry to be so secretive about all this, but you never know who’s listening these days.”
>
>

*—Pombo to Cat, at the docks*

#### *JUST DON'T THINK TOO HARD ABOUT THE 'HOW':*

> “I never knew much about the gods before you and the rest of your friends came along, nor did I care to, I’ll admit. But I think I was just ignorant. Since you opened the Spring and cleaned up the canals, it feels like there’s a little of the divine in everything around here, now.”
> “I told you there were ancient machines lying dormant around the city, right? There’s a giant water wheel at the north end of the Wetlands, and there are paddles and wheels turning underwater, beneath the city, too. Now that they’re active again, they circulate the water in the canal, and the water itself seems to power the canal boats.”
>
>

*—Pombo to Cat, about what's changed since the party opened the Spring*

#### *SEEMS DIRTY:*

> “So, Mr. Magic Scholar. What do you think?”
>
>

*—Pombo to Cat, about the Powder Keg*

#### *OUT OF MY WAY, I'M FEY:*

> "'Fraid that ain't it, lands. Get scootin', we got people waitin'."
>
>

*—Powder Keg bouncer to hopefuls with the wrong secret password*

> "Friends of Mr. Pombo's! Why didn't ye say so?"
>
>

*—Mandy, owner and operator of the Powder Keg*