"Very muddy, but okay. A tree fell near the pond, so we'll have to move that a little later on. But the house is okay, and everything else seems okay. So we didn't come out too badly." Aleron shrugged.

"Probably helped that we're practically up against the mountains," Margaret mused as she brushed sand off of her clothes. "I'll get Metagross to move the tree, he's big enough to handle it."

"Alright." Aleron glanced around inside the cave. "Looks like you ended up with a nice little pile after all." She grinned teasingly.

"Seriously," Margaret replied. "Although I'm surprised Ralts is here. I think it might finally be getting a bit more comfortable."

"Good." Aleron smiled. "It's about time. Poor little thing's still scared of me most of the time, and I haven't done anything."

"It won't stay around me if it's alone," Margaret said. "But I think it's a bit more comfortable now if it has Natu or Noctowl or someone else with it."

Aleron nodded. "Well, it's improvement, at least," she said, stretching out briefly.

"So, what do we want to do about our two unexpected guests?"

"I don't know," Margaret said. She sighed shortly. "I'm not so sure what I think of them, to be honest. They have affinities, that much is obvious, but we don't know them. And now they know about what we do here. What do you think?"

"I don't trust them," Aleron said. "Which means I also don't trust them to not tell other people. Which is kind of a problem." She sighed. "I don't know. We can't exactly keep them here against their will."

"I know," Margaret said. She sighed. "Maybe we can offer to let them stay here so they can see what we do?" she suggested. "If they stay for a little while, maybe we can get a better feel for them and convince them not to say anything."

"Alright." Aleron wasn't thrilled with the plan, but she could also see the wisdom of it. "So we'll invite them to stay for a little while, hope they agree, and then hope they're trustworthy enough to not say anything after they go."

"If you have any better ideas, speak now or forever hold your peace," Margaret replied. "It's the best I've got for now."

Aleron shrugged. "We'll go with that one and change it if we have to." She sighed briefly. "Do you want to tell them or do you want me to?"

"I can," Margaret said. "If you want, see about getting Metagross to move the tree so we can get to the pond to check on it." Brushing herself off one more time, she went into the house to see what all was going on in there.

Quen was still half-asleep, sprawled out across his sleeping bag, rather than in it. Absol was using his thigh as a pillow, while Mightyena was stretched out next to Quen on his other side. Both pokemon looked at Margaret before settling down again, clearly unconcerned.

Margaret eyed the two for a moment before stepping around them, kneeling down, and nudging Quen a bit.

"Hey," she said softly, "wake up."

Quen groaned and flopped an arm over his eyes.

"'s too early," he mumbled. "Go find a tree by yourself, Trent."

Margaret bit her lip to keep from snickering out loud.

"I'm not your brother," she said. She nudged him again. "Wake up. Before I have one of the pokemon do it for me."

Quen lifted his arm when Absol rumbled at him, opening one eye to squint up at Margaret. That woke him up really quickly, and he turned red.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Um. Morning?"

"Morning," Margaret replied. "Storm's over. And we wanted to know if you and your brother wanted to hang around here for a while to see what we do here. Be a good chance to rest up and relax before heading into Johto, too."

Quen nodded. "It sounds like a good plan to me," he said, stretching a bit. "But I'll have to ask Trent once he's up, make sure he doesn't mind." He smiled at her, trying to show her that, really, he was a nice guy, it wasn't his fault that he had an affinity with the type opposite hers.

Margaret nodded.

"Alright," she said. Carefully, she stood up and picked her way back outside of the dark-type radius. "I should go back out and see if Aleron managed to do anything about the tree that sort of fell in the lake."

"You need any help?" Quen sat up, moving Mightyena and Absol out of the way to do so. Neither pokemon was disgruntled.

"I think Metagross can handle it," Margaret replied. "We'll see. Plan B is we have a dozen or more psychics around here, enough of them working together can move the tree." She hesitated. "But thanks."

Quen nodded and got up slowly, moving over to wake up Trent.

"Hey. Wake up. Before I let Murkrow at you." He shook Trent a few times.