Standing on the steps leading up to the 2 two story house, slightly crooked to the right, and having part of the roof missing. Some of the windows were smashed, and there was a neatly piled mountain of timbers, stones, tiles, and everything that should belong inside a house.

 

“This should be it….” Gargan let out a slight sigh, and prepared himself mentally. ‘It wasn’t a bad idea when I first thought of it, but now it seems like a really bad idea.’ He couldn’t get over the thought that whoever was on the other side of the door would just chase him away, or worse, threaten his live….Or called the guard on him to be more realistic.

 

He checked and double and triple checked the address on the letter, constantly moving his eyes from the cover to the address written on the door. ‘Maybe camping one in a while isn't a bad idea after all,’ he thought.

 

“Good afternoon….What can I do for you?” someone called out to him from behind, snapping Gargan out of his thoughts. Due to his enormous folded wings, he has to completely turn around for a clear view.

 

“Ah….Um….Greeting,” Gargan fumbled his greeting, as he looked the guard up and down. The man looked to be in his thirties, although Gargan couldn’t exactly place a number on his age. He simply wasn’t good with judging the aesthetic of the more humanoids races. “Did, uhm, is there something wrong, sir sentry?”

 

“Ah, no. There isn’t anything wrong,” guard has his hand on his hip, his kettle hat helmet hangs on his side, and his segmented metal coat partially open, exposing his wet and damn tunic underneath. “It’s just that….this is my home….” he trailed off, and an awkward silence ensued.

 

“A-Are you Mr. Winters perhaps?” Gargan quickly caught on, and moved aside to let the man through. “I-I’m Gargan Kiri, an explorer and newly registered adventurer. I have, um, a letter for you, if you don’t mind.” He handed the confused guard the letter.

 

He took the letter silently, his eye seemingly just dashed right through its contents. He took a minute, looked at the nervous aarakocra, and went back to the letter one more time, leaving Gargan standing in silence, twirling his thumb and fidgeting his wings.

 

“Right….right….I see….” the guard mumbled to himself, as he started to read the letter one more time, before handing it back to him. “Yes, I am Winters. Daniel Winters to be more exact. I didn’t expect you today, if I have to be honest.”

 

“I am so sorry for the intrusion. I shall take my leave, then.” Gargan hurriedly bowed and off on his way, but the guardsmen were faster.

 

“Oh, no no no. I didn’t mean that.” He stops the birdman by standing in his way. “What I mean is, we would be better prepared to receive a Foreign guest. We owe Lucia a favor, and having a Foreign guest after the last few days doesn’t sound too bad. Come in, Mr. Kiri, come in”

 

That….caught him off guard, no pun intended. He didn’t expect the guard to be so friendly and open. “Th-Then I shall take your offer then. And, please just call me Gargan.”

 

“Only if you're going to call me Daniels, because everyone behind those doors are Winters.” He laughed, and unlocked the door with a small, iron key. “We are sorry for the mess, but if you don’t mind it, how about dinner with us?”

 

“I would be graceful, Mr. W- I mean, Daniel. With everything going on, all I hoped was for a room to stay the night, so I can’t be too picky.”

 

“I see. Well, Lucia did mention that you just arrived here. Oh, a little late, but welcome to Sky Harbor, Jewels of The Sky Archipelago! I hope the city has been treated well,” Daniel spread his arm out, and offered Gargan a friendly smile, as the two of them entered the house.

 

The first thing Gargan noticed was the smell. The smell of timbers, of fabric, and of food. It smells like home…. 

 

Before either of them could say anything, something ran toward Daniels, and sprung into his arms, who he accepted with a blossoming smile. “Daddy! Daddy’s home!” She was a little girl, adorned in a cute little sundress. As if the dress was her personality, from the little that Gargan sees, was full of sunshine.

 

“Jane! Daddy’s home! Come here, my little girl!” Daniel dropped down and gently landed Jane down to the floor. “Don’t cling to daddy.” He said, as he returned the hug, completely contradicting what he was saying.

 

“Who’s das, daddy? Birdie?” The girl reaches over to Gargan, as she squirmed out of Daniel’s hug. “Big birdie! Hello! Hello, birdie. What’s your name? I’m Jane!” Faster than he could blink, the little girl had already hopped around him, firing a barrage of questions at him.

 

“Uh….Hello. I-uhm….I’m called Gargan Kiri. Nice to meet you, uhm…Little Miss Jane.” There were more hiccups than he liked to, but his attention wasn’t there. “Hehe,” Jane bashfully laughed, as she ran back into the house.

 

“She….she certainly a ball of sunshine and happiness, isn’t it?” Gargan commented off handedly to the proud father who wholeheartedly agreed. “How old is she?”

 

“Jane just turned 7 last month. How about we headed in? Let me introduce my wife, and Jane’s brother.” He led the way, as he carefully navigated the messy house. Everything was placed in a rush, and not where they are meant to be, coupled with the aarakocra large wings mean he had to take even more caution to not knock anything over. He wasn’t that successful, as a stack of books caught on his wing and fell down with a thud.

 

Daniel said don’t mind it, but Gargan took a moment to clean them up before catching up with the guardsmen, who were waiting for him in the kitchen-dining combined room, standing in the corner, taking his equipment off and hanging it off on a wall mounted shelf, just off to the side of the table.

 

“Ah, welcome home, dad. How’s your day? I hope it wasn’t as bad as yesterday.” The boy at the kitchen asked, as  his back turned to Gargan as he was preparing ingredients, and chopping vegetables, the fire danced under pots and pans. “I should have everything cooked by the time you finish showering.”

 

“I got it, geez. No need to say that, I know I’m stinky and sweaty, but we have a guest here .....” He wrapped his hand around the boy, “Say hello to Gargan, a Foreigner who will stay the night.”

 

“Huh? What do you mea-” The boy turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw the creature, standing by the door frame. “AH!” He yelps.

 

“Quiet, boy. He’s our guest, not a monster.” Daniel ruffled the boy's hair, driving his fist into the boy’s crow. “He’s Gargan Kiri, a Foreigner who just landed here. Or do you young kids call them Outlander? Otherworlder? Anyway, here is one of those folk.”

 

“I’m so sorry for my rude behavior!” The boy caught on to his mistake, and bowed deeply in apologies. “I didn’t mean to-”

 

“Worry not, young Winters.” Gargan scratches his neck, “I understand how scary I look to those that have never seen my kind before. Especially with these,” He pointed to his exposed feet, claws and beak. “Or this girl here,” He held up his sword, and took it off and leaned it back again the way, showing his non-hostility.

 

“I am Lukas,” He introduced himself, as Daniel released the boy and headed to the stair, remarking, “I’ll take a shower, so please don’t be rude with our guest, Lukas.”

 

“Dad! I say I didn’t mean too!” He yelled back, embarrassed. “I am so sorry for that, Mr. Kiri. I hope you are fine with just vegetable stew and bread for dinner. We just couldn’t find any meat from the market. Everything happened so abruptly….”

 

“No need to mind me, Lukas. Oh, just Gargan is fine,” Gargan looked over to the kitchen, seeing that there was very little fresh, and most of it was either dried or preserved. “My kind is omnivores, and I am not a picky eater, either. Say, how about I lend you a wing?”

 

“Huh?” Lukas was confused by the strange terminology, but just accepted it as a culture difference, “Ah, no, no no no, I couldn’t make a guest do that. Mom and dad wouldn’t let me off.”

 

“Then I’ll help you with that too,” Gargan chuckled at the boy panic, “Let’s just say that this is my payment for tonight’s room, alright?” It took Gargan a few minutes to convince the boy, but Lukas relented and let the birdman help him.

 

10 minutes into making dinner, Gargan heard the front door open, followed by a flurry of footsteps down the door, a yellow blurs down the hallway, and a loud and cheerful “Momma!”

 

“Ah, mom’s home too!” Lukas exclaimed, as his dumb the last of the ingredient into the soup. “Everything should be fine now. Just 10 more minutes, and we'll get ourselves dinner. Let me introduce you to mom.”

 

“I’m home,” Gargan assumed the voice belonged to Mrs. Winters, as she came into the dining room, Jane in one hand, and a large bag in the other. “How is every....thing?” She stopped halfway, and let her voice trailed off.

 

“This is Mr. Kiri, dad’s guest for dinner.” Lukas says, as he swiftly introduces Gargan. “Aunt Lucia gave him our address.” As if on clue, Gargan took out the letter and handed it to Mrs. Winters, while also taking her bags and setting it aside for her.

 

“Lucia? Did she write this?” Jane, not waiting to be caught between the letter and her mother, hopped off and ran toward her brother and begged him to fetch her some sweets. “Ah, you must be the one that Harold talks about.”

 

“Harold? Oh, you mean Sir Harold the harbormaster?” He didn’t expect to hear the bear’s name now. “A-Am I that well-known?”

 

“Oh, very much so, Gargan. Your landing at the dock was quite a scene, I heard.” She chuckled, as she handed him the letter. “I was surprised when Lucia told me that we might have a guest for the night.”

 

“Lucia?” Gargan asked quizzically.

 

“Ah, she works as a receptionist at a nearby guild’s office.” Mrs. Winters answered, as she sorted through her bag, and brought out half a dozen pieces of still warm bread and laid them on the table.

 

“So that was her name, huh?” Gargan mumbled, as Daniel came down the stairs, his hair still wet from the shower. “I will have to thank her later.”

 

“I see you have met my wife,” Daniel said, as he took a seat next to Lukas and Jane, “She used to be a seamstress, but now, she preferred to just stay home with the kid, and take the occasional commission on the side.”

 

“Maybe you should stay home someday instead, dear.” She seated herself next to Jane and me, “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Janett, and Lucia’s my husband's cousin, in case you were wondering. She helped us move to Sky Harbor a couple of years ago, and live quite nearby too.”

 

“I see….I must thank her later then.” Gargan said, as they began to eat dinner. It wasn’t anything extravagant, nothing grand, nothing to be impressed about, but it was good. The stew was just slightly salty for Gargan, and the vegetable was a bit over cooked, but it had the taste of imperfection. The taste of home. And nothing is better than that.

 

The meal lasted quite some time, as Gargan learned that the family originally came from the city of Aerelieth, one of the major cities of the Archipelago, when Daniel was transferred over to be the one of the guard captains for Sky Harbor.

 

Somehow, the conversation turned from the city of Sky Harbor into what life was like, what the old world was, the history of the Archipelago, and into Gargan's own story and his explorations of his home world. Both Lukas and Jane were captivated by his stories.

 

Little Jane has fallen in love with his story about that one time he was lost within the Elven forest, while Daniel and Lukas both fascinated about his own aarakocra mountain ranges. Janett herself was more interested in the fashions of the dwarves and the beast-folks.

 

And from them Gargan learns of how rich and diverse the Sky Archipelago’s culture is. He had noticed earlier, but it was still astonishing how humans, elves, dwarves and demi-folks could live among each other, how each of their own culture and tradition flourishes without oppression, and how Sky Harbor is the melting pot, the accumulation, the witch brew of all that. Truly fascinating….

 

Another thing that Gargan learned was how much money he currently has in procession right now. 100 Gold Pieces, or 1000 Silver Coins from the aid package, and another 20 Silvers from his map.

 

1020 Silver pieces all together would allow him to have a room at the nearby inn for at least 2 months without any extra income. ‘That is quite a sum, isn’t it?’ Gargan thought, as he headed for the empty and seldom used room Daniel’s have. It used to be where Janett stored her fabrics for her commission, but now, with dwindled demand, it was left empty with an extra bed in case a guest stayed over. And today was that day.