He regarded Barricade with some mild incredulity. "Do I sense a hint of growing consideration? Keep it up and one day we might actually be able to call ourselves partners." Qilby's words were as ironic as ever, but they were missing the harsh edge they had before... He actually might've sort of meant what he said.

"But no-- no, thank you. I'm more interested in the flora at the moment." And then, he added a touch too pleasantly, "There'll be plenty of kishin eggs to take apart later... Perhaps more than I initially thought. And I hope they'll come to me more intact, in the future."

Brushing the dirt off his loose sleeve (and, to his annoyance, leaving more light streaks of red on it) he turned to continue down the tunnel. More kishin eggs than he thought, indeed. Once they'd overcome their hurdles, the two of them didn't put up a bad fight. But surely things were only going to get more dangerous from here on out -- how much deeper would it be safe for them to delve, exactly?