It felt nice, not needing to think. Really, his brain was so busy, thoughts firing around constantly that having some blissful silence was welcome. He felt like he was floating in a dreamlike sense.
What was it that he had to do? Oh right- just say one word. Mumbo's name.
He felt his mouth open, the name on the tip of his tongue before he realised what exactly he was doing, snapping his mouth shut before he could accidentally spill it.

That and also, an arm tugging his own and the rushed whisper in his ear snapped him out of it.
"Xelqua, don't obey him."

The floating sensation went away, unceremoniously dumping Grian into reality again.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
But he was grateful to be in control of his own actions.

Thorn stared down at the duo, his confusion only visible in his eyes, the rest of his face remained as unreadable as a stone.
"You." He started, glaring at Mumbo. "You know something. How else would you be able to make him stop?"

"I dunno. Maybe he's able to snap out of it and I only helped." Mumbo shrugged, sending a cheeky smile up at Thorn.

Thorn frowned as if that were an actual possibility rather than Mumbo spitballing an answer. "Possibly. He is one of the few who knows old magick. I wouldn't be surprised if you had more tricks up your sleeves, Grian."

"They're baggy for a reason." Grian grinned just to wind Thorn up even further. And indeed, his blue sweater was a size too big which only supported his teasing claim.

"How does anyone stand you." The king grumbled, waving a hand and sending the two of them away surrounded by guards.

Guards who marched them into cells made of the selfsame magically enhanced iron, with no plants for Grian to manipulate and break out like he did last time.

"Well that could have gone better." Mumbo pouted, sitting on the floor like a petulant child with his arms crossed.

"It also could have gone worse." Grian sighed, "Thanks for what you did back there."

"I'm not all to eager to have him know my name as well. Any ideas on what to call me while we're here?"

Grian hummed. "How about Dust? Like redstone dust?"

"Better than my actual name. Dust it is." He grinned at the faerie. "I am curious though- why was he calling me 'fake faerie.' It doesn't make much sense for him to want both of us but then only go after you."

"He knows me better is all, I think. As for the whole fake faerie thing, I don't know. Maybe he doesn't see you as one of us, or maybe there is something fundamentally different about you." He shrugged.

Which gave Mumbo an idea. "I wonder..." he trailed off as he stood up and slowly walked towards the bars, hesitating as he rest a hand on the iron.

"Mu-I mean Dust?"

"Well I mean. It hurts but it's not unbearable." Mumbo shrugged, still holding onto the iron. "It's like getting burned by a really lazy fire." He grinned before (finally) he let go of the bar.

"Ah brilliant! So I was worried about nothing."

"It's not nothing. You had no idea if the iron would hurt me as bad as it did you or not. So thank you for looking out for me, G."

Grian had to hide his sheepish blush, deciding to become an approximation of a turtle as his shoulders brushed the bottoms of his ears.
"This is great and all, but how are we gonna get out of this mess? I get the feeling Thorn isn't just gonna let us go."

"We can worry about that later. For now, I think our first priority is getting out of here. Or teach me more about this world so I don't have a spoon moment at the most inopportune moment. Or both. Both would be absolutely brilliant." Mumbo rambled in an attempt to cheer Grian up.