Just as the first morning light peeped through the curtain, Gargan was up and about already, helping Daniels with his repairing tasks, of which the latter was somewhat hesitant about with his lending his wings. “Just considered this rent for last night, Daniels.”

 

Just after a nice, light and warm breakfast, Gargan, Daniel and Daniel’s neighbor Nout, a dwarven baker who has supplied the bread last night, began their repair job. Gargan also took notice of a quest that encouraged adventurers to help repair the city’s infrastructure and buildings and took it.

 

Quest Taken:

There is no reason to not get paid when someone is offering for it, even if his intention was to help Daniels for his generosity.

 

With the help of the aarakocra, the roof was the first thing to return it to its former glory. With Gargan's ability to fly, as well as his monstrous strength, it only took him two trips to bring materials up, as well as the handy Daniels. An hour of hammering later, and the roof look just as beautiful as the day it was installed, Daniels remarked at his work, while Nout beg to differ.

 

With the glass-blower backed up with all new and urgent commission, Daniel opted for just a wooden window blind for now, and replaced them later. After that, came the cracked support and pillar. As they aren’t that damaged, the trio just reinforced them for now, and will contact a foreman and some construction masters to fix them later.

 

After Daniel’s house came the baker’s bakery as well as his house. Similar to Daniel’s house, Nout’s was quite lucky too. No roof missing, but his windows were similarly smashed, and a part of his back wall has collapsed. As there was almost no construction experience between the three of them, the wall was just temporarily patched to keep the element out, and the warmth in. It looks quite comical, due to the stalk difference between the old wall and the patched one.

 

Next came the bakery, which was in the worst shape. The bakery and stone oven itself was fine, due to their masterful masonry construction. The store front, however, completely disappeared, and was replaced by a neat pile of dirt, timbers and broken furniture.

 

When the trio arrived at the bakery, the excavation and clearing was almost complete, leaving only the heaviest and largest pieces of walls and timbers. What surprised Gargan the most, however, was the leading woman, who introduced herself as Ghenair, Nout’s husband. She was beautiful, charming and pleasant to converse with.

 

No, that was not what caught his attention, but her pointed, knife-like ears. She is an elven woman, who married a dwarven man. This discovery blew his mind. ‘No way! No way this is real?!?!’

 

Gheniar found Gargan’s dumbfounded expression cute and funny, while Nout has a hint of annoyance on his face. “We’re aren’t as bitter nemesis as your world is, Gargan….Well, there are still some old, cranky men out there, but it's only a fiery rivalry now….” Nout explained, as he had heard of Gargan’s situation from Daniels. “Things like elven wine again dwarven ale, elven artistry again dwarven practicality, elven woodwork again dwarven masonry.”

 

With a dozen others to help, the excavation of the bakery was quick, to everyone's surprise. With Gargan present, they were able to create another point of contact, with the birdman lifting the debris from above, lightening the burden on those below.

 

The largest help, however, came from the dainty elven woman. With her fire magic, and her masterful control of it, she carefully burnt away the trashed and useless timbers, effectively clearing most of the timber and broken furniture by herself.

 

Gargan later learned that Ghenair was once an adventurer too, and quite a famous one among the locals at that. ‘Honestly, how did Nout the baker landed a lady like that?’ Gargan thought, as he and the excavating party shared a simple lunch consisting of hand made sandwiches and fruit juice. Nout and the other was, however, crying for some ales, which Ghaneir shut down with just her look.

 

The excavation lasted until 2 in the afternoon, when Daniel had to get to his post for his shift. He is working this afternoon and into the night today. Bidding his goodbye, Daniel lugging his tired body to his post. Really, Daniels is a man of his community, isn’t it? This city is lucky to have men like him protecting her.

 

For the rest of the day, Gargan spent his day helping around the neighborhood, and the roofs had never been repaired that fast before, and he had never seen so many gifted fruits and local snacks offered to him before.

 

By the time the sun started to set one more, Gargan found himself back at Daniel’s place. Today dinner was cooked by Janett, and she didn’t even consider his offer to help, and chased him out of the kitchen before he could utter a single word. Resigned, Gargan spends his free time entertaining Little Miss Jane and teaches Lukas some songs from his homeworld, which the boy has somehow liked. Gargan wasn’t the best of singers, but he could hold any man and woman's attention if he really tried.

 

Dinner started and ended within just an hour, and Daniel's dinner was delivered by Gargan and Lukas, the teenage boy was stubbornly following him, even though his mother didn’t allow too. Gargan offered his promise to keep himself, and the pair ventured into the city.

 

“Uncle Gargan….Do you think I could be an adventurer too?” the boy suddenly asked. “His eyes locked onto the night sky.

 

“Huh? That is a rather unexpected question….” Gargan thinks to himself, not sure of what to say. He knows for a fact, however, that his answers will have an influence on the boy’s future. “Well, I am not too familiar with this world’s adventurers, but from my own experience, it isn’t what you expected, Lukas. Say, what do you think an adventurer’s day look like?”

 

“It would be looking for treasures, wouldn't it? Exploring the unknown, making friends from all over the world! Isn’t that what you did?” The boy answered quizzically, not understanding why the birdman’s intention.

 

“Oh, that is certainly true. I have explored more places than you can count on your fingers, and met more interesting characters than feathers on my wings. But….” Gargan intentionally paused, stopped and lowering himself down to Lukas eye’s level. “That wasn’t all, Lukas”

 

“I never intended to look for any treasures, and most of the time, I didn’t dare to take them. Oh, most of them were guarded by creatures that could towering the bell towers in the square, Lukas. To explore the unknown, is to risk my life, Lukas. Unknown monsters, unknown terrain, and always on the verge of starvation, thousand of miles away from the nearest signs of civilization….And, I have run into more people who would rather me dead, than be their conversing partners. The world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Not everyone wanted to be your friend, Lukas. I know that here, when you turn 15, you can already make your own choices, and you are only a few years away from it.” He looked the boy in his eyes, the hope in his eye dwindled.

 

“Make not the mistake of assuming everyone and everything is as it seems, boy. I do not discourage you from this path, but let it be known, never, and I mean it, never decide on anything without considering both the best outcome, and the very worst of it. Do you understand?”

 

“I-I….” Lukas looked away, fear struck his heart, and his mind began to race. “I don’t know….Uncle Gargan….I’m not too sure now.” His face morphed into rejection, saddened by Gargan words.

 

“Good!” Gargan gently patted the boy's shoulder, “Never afraid to say ‘I don’t know’, or ‘I’m not sure’. It is not a weakness that you ask for help, Lukas. It is proof of strength. The strength it takes to recognize your shortcoming, your weaknesses. Only when you know your weaknesses do you overcome them.” Gargan offered the boy his feather. One that has fallen off earlier in the day.

 

An aarakocra's feather is as precious to them, as gold to a dragon, and they only give them away for those that they see as family, to those that they respect and recognize, and to those that they would pray for. Lukas did not know of this, but he knew how much Gargan loved his own wings, that he even rejected Jane's crying pleas to touch them last night. 

 

“I….Thank you, Uncle Gargan….” Lukas said meekly, and the pair continued their journey.

 

“It is not a problem, Lukas. Look to your parents for guidance, and make your own decision. Your father’s a good man, so learn from him.” Gargan offered his last advice, “They are there for you, just as their parents were, and you will be to your child. Learn, study, and listen to them, treasure your family, if you ever walk this path like mine….”

 

The journey took perhaps ten, fifteen minutes, and both were greeted with a tired and aching Daniel, who subjected the two to a mountain of complaints about influx of people crossing the gate, and petty crimes, all of which he has to do paper work for.

 

By the time the pair got back home, Jane was long in bed, and Janett was fuming.  She didn’t even consider Gargan to be at fault, as she knew her husband very well. Yet, it didn’t stop her from chewing both out for being home too late. Janett rages on for sometime too, and when she was done, all involved party was dead tired. Slacking his tired body to the bed, Gargan willed all of his willpower to write a short and simple report for the guild with the help of his butterfly, before drifting to sleep.

 

As for the boy, Lukas didn’t go to bed immediately, even though he was dead tired, especially after weathering his mom’s misdirected anger. Instead, he opened his sparingly used journey and wrote down Gargan’s words. Even though they only know each other for a very short while, and the birdman himself was quite timid and quiet most of the time, Lukas felt like he was just like an uncle of his, strangely enough.

 

The birdman would just keep silent when they played with them, and only answered when they asked him too, and rarely did he start a conversation on his own. Yet, that was the longest he had spoken to anyone within the last two day during his stay, and Gargan's word tonight stuck with Lukas, as he began to think about it, and wrote it down.

 

Pressing Gargan’s feathers into the pages and closing it, Lukas fell asleep thinking about his future, and his dream, and his family….

 

The next morning, Gargan has the final meal with Daniels family, with the absent of the still sleeping Daniels, as he leaves for a nearby inn. Lukas and Jane begged him to stay, but Gargan politely refused. He did, however, promise to visit them whenever he could, as long as he is still in Sky Harbor.

 

When Little Miss Jane saw that Gargan has given Lukas a gift, the little girl too, also wanted one, and again the profusely apologetic Janett, Gargan gave her half a dozen seed of Wister-Lasge, a breed of tenacious but beautiful flower from the forest of the elves back in his world. He wondered if there is any here? It was one of his many collection’s items that he still has on him from his old world.

 

On the way to the inn, Gargan stopped by Lucia the receptionist’s home to thank her, but she wasn’t there. She has left earlier to the guild’s office, it seems. Without much to do, Gargan leaves a hand-written message pinned to her door, thanking her for her help, and leaves for the inn.

 

After that, Gargan rented a room for himself at the inn nearby for 40 Silver a day, for 4 days. From what he heard from Daniel, the price was usually just 15 Silvers, but due to the influx of Foreigners, Otherworlders, and the reduced supply of commendation due to the quakes, the price was jacked up higher than the tallest peak of Sky Archipelago. At this rate, he will need to look for another quest….preferably a high paying one if he wants to stay there. Or maybe Gargan could take the gale and find a quiet village. Or he could say goodbye to this Archipelago and visit the Lower World.