Greetings, all!

Weeks (months?) ago of real time, I found the Royal Fire Slug and talked to her with Fane who had Pet Pal. I read (red?) on the Net that the Red Prince had a separate, EXP-granting dialog option if he had Pet Pal. Thus, I waited and eagerly got the group to level 8, only to find the Royal Fire Slug not caring about the Red Prince (who now had Pet Pal) when they talked.

The first time Fane talked to her, I got the Sticky Letter. Even having this in Red Prince's inventory when he spoke to Her Slugginess did nothing.

This felt to me like a bug, even if it technically isn't, since I couldn't complete the quest in the way that I understood.

Aside from modding/cheating, how to complete the quest in the marital way?