Looking up at him again, not holding his wrist in a vice grip... Definitely good signs. Though what was up with the gripping his wrist to begin with?

"Well I'm always down for a spicy food challenge if you ever feel like seeing how you stack up," he said. "We could maybe even see if anyone else would want to join in." Mal might be interested, and maybe a few others. They'd have to see if it came up.

"I'm glad you like the book though. And yeah, not a lot of animals that can talk or grant wishes with a dash of moral instruction. Though that reminds me... one time my fried Isa and I were sneaking around the palace- we did that a lot as kids- we found a whole room full of chocobo stuff. Books, toys, mugs, posters, figurines... if it had a chocobo on it, it was probably in there. You'd have probly loved it. Never found out who it belonged to, but then again, Dilan did hustle us out of there faster than usual. I mean he really doesn't seem they type, but you never know..."

"Dilan was head of palace security, back in the day. Isa and I drove him nuts with our ability to sneak in the way we did, and even to this day, if he's got an expression other than a scowl, I've never seen it."