Fantredala delighted in the fear that shone in everyone's eyes when she finally returned to the Destiny with Wunelzstou at her side. It didn't take long for the intelligent and resourceful crew to figure out just what he was and what he represented, and no one was pleased by the idea that Fantredala was now keeping company with an incarnation of chaos and destruction.

Well, perhaps Doctor Schroeder himself remained as merrily unconcerned as always, but at least the rest of the crew got delightfully quaky in their boots whenever they saw Wunelzstou coming!

Of course, Wunelzstou set Fantredala on edge as well, for entirely different reasons. The true Chaos of his nature made her own Balance shriek in protest, demanding that she either destroy him, or change him. Neither option was acceptable, of course. He fascinated her just the way he was. Chaos and Balance set aside, their natures were complimentary in a way she had never experienced, and she would not change him. So, she just had to teach herself to ignore the internal outcry that demanded his death or remaking whenever they met, and instead focus on the way they drew closer and closer together, darkly delighting in one another.

A fair trade, certainly.

Whenever they left the Destiny and convened elsewhere, worlds would die. The deaths were careful and methodical, of course, as Fantredala hunted down realms that were overpopulated or otherwise in need of culling, but death was still death. Wunelzstou's shadows would cover the land, his chaos restrained and directed by Fantredala alone, and together they would feast.

Each time, Fantredala watched her shadow carefully, observing him, finding the things in which their contrast was the most vehement. Just as she would not change him, she would not change herself, either, but she would still find the ways to encourage a sort of tolerance between them, to find the place where their two extremes could join as one.

In time, they would be able to...commemorate their feasts. And time was a commodity they both had in abundance.

But even with the shadowling cloaking her life just as she suffused his, Fantredala did not forget her old habits and joys. Meddling would never lose its entertainment value for her, and Wunelzstou delighted in assisting. He only saw chaos in her actions, in her diving into another creature's life, stirring things up, and then leaving them with the aftermath. A biased view, certainly, but if it pleased him to view her balanced destruction as chaos, there was truly no reason to correct him.

And as always, unsettling the Destiny's crew was the most fun.

::I have kin on the station,:: Wunelzstou commented one evening, as they came together in the darkness of the one empty Hatching Bay, him a massless shadow and she a bodiless spirit.

::Kin?::

::Charming,:: Fantredala chuckled, her mindvoice the same dark silk of her true one. ::I have sensed them, too. They are not as...incommodious as your essence can be, but they have not escaped my notice, either.::

::They should know their heritage,:: Wunelzstou observed, as they alternately encompassed one another in shadow and spirit, filling the Bay with their presences. ::They have come so far from their roots. They may never know how it feels to feast on life.::

::Such amusing little notions!:: Fantredala laughed. ::Though I would love to see how such a youth would be welcomed here on the ship, I'm not sure how much more chaos I could stand to be around.::

::I will make it my concern only,:: he answered.

::Oh, no need to do that. Children are so impressionable. If you can teach it its power, I can teach it restraint, how to order its chaos, just as I have done with you. It will be...practice.::

Interest flashed brightly across the darkness of Wunelzstou's thoughts. ::Practice?::

::For a certain future...but that is a different subject entirely. Come. Let us go see your kin.::

They shed the confines of the ship, drifting out into the body in which the Destiny was only one little parasite. Ignoring the little deaths they passed, the vices of the dark corners of any place where civilization came together, they instead went down to where life was the event of notice.

They did not bother with the door, passing their intangible bodies through its mass and casually reforming on the other side, giving the only sentient mind their time to notice and react to their arrival.

The dark-furred chaos mutt's eyes widened in a calm sort of surprise after Wunelzstou had compressed his essence back into his semi-solid form, his eyes glowing brightly in his shadows.

::You and yours are kin to mine,:: Wunelzstou told the dragon, drifting forward, shadowed by Fantredala.

::And now I know where Father got his attitude from,:: the mutt replied. ::Your voice is just like his. Are you Ombet's sire?::

::I have no offspring. Yet,:: Wunelzstou amended, eyes flicking briefly to the half-spirit at his side. ::But I suspect one of my brothers was. Family calls to family. I am Wunelzstou.::

::And I am Ruriluseth, but being family doesn't automatically mean I'll entrust you with one of my children,:: pointed out the mutt, calmly curling the brush of his tail around his paws. ::So tell me. What makes you worthy?::

::I rather suspect he might not much like your speech of chaotic legacies,:: Fantredala observed with a smirk, privately touching Wunelzstou's mind.

The shadowling smiled invisibly. ::Then I will tell him what he wants to hear.::