“Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.”

Steve Irwin

The giants paused on the ridgeline, looking down at Namir. Cleary surprised to see someone in their way. After only a moment’s confusion and a look between the four of them, they hailed Namir.

“Heil og sæl.” Their leader shouted down from the ridgeline, his voice as deep as his chest was wide. The words effectively meant good health in giant, and it was a cheerful enough opening. It also heavily implied that these were the Noble race of Giants that had their own Kingdom rather than the Ice Giants that would rather eat us than talk to us. We were off to a promising start.

“Hello.” Shouted Namir back, and I suddenly realised a possible problem with Namir choosing to be the first to interact with them. I was not sure that he actually spoke Giant at all. The northern kingdom and the giants were as far as was humanely possible from the beast kin tribes of the southern kingdom of Ostro.

Luckily, it appeared that at least one of the giants spoke the Compass Continent's common language, Bussola. “Hello.” He replied, his voice booming across the open ice fields. “Are you well?” He questioned. “I only ask because I do not think we have ever come across any beastkin so deep into the endless icefields of the north.” He explained his curiosity.

“Well enough.” Answered Namir, although it was obvious that for him to be surviving this far out, he had to have hidden his supplies or be ridiculously high levelled enough that the lack of food and warmth meant little to him. “Though I would be grateful for any directions you might be able to give me back to civilisation.” He still maintained his distance from them, though they had not attempted to close the distance by descending from the ridgeline. There was a danger to any new friends we made. While most might be stronger than me, would they be stronger than Namir? It was, after all, why he was meeting them alone.

“We would be happy to help direct you to the nearest Thorpe (Village). But you are still far west of our settled lands and far north of the human Kingdom of Tramontana.” His deep voice rumbled.

“Any directions would be useful if only to tell me how far I still need to go. Thank you.” Namir continued. Things seemed to be playing out positively.

“Like we said, a week or two’s travel at our speed. But the chances of you finding our settlement are small without our guidance.” He cautioned. Dubious of Namir finding his way without support.

“It’s hidden?” He questioned.

“Not so much hidden as in there are few landmarks to guide you to its location out on the endless ice.” He explained.

“When are you returning home?” Namir asked. Trying to work out whether it was worth attempting to find it without them.

“Soon, soon.” He replied. “You are welcome to return with us.” He offered warmly.

“Thank you.” Namir answered and then as if coming to a conclusion continued. “We might just take you up on that.”

“We?” He looked around for the rest of us.

“Kai,” he called and I popped my head out of the ice cave I had created. Unsure exactly where he was going with this. That was hardly a slip of the tongue.

“A little cub as well as a little cat, your tale grows stranger by the second.” He boomed surprised by my reveal across the other side of the vale. I stepped out of the cave and slid down the slope on my skis to join Namir.

“My grandson.” He replied.

Grandson? What was it with old men and false family relations? I didn’t look anything like him, not to mention that I wasn’t beastkin by any stretch of the imagination.

“Grandson?” the leader of the giants questioned, clearly noting the differences in our racial traits.

“A quarter cast, but he carries the racial trait.” He answered as if that explained everything.

“Ah, you do not need to worry about any racial purity nonsense. My son is three-quarter cast and his mother half cast but all the stronger for it.” He said as the smaller of the four stepped forward. It was hardly as if he was small and would have still towered over Namir, but he was certainly smaller in comparison to the other three.

“Not all are so open-minded.” Namir nodded in agreement. At the same time, hinting at a possible reason for us being so far north.

“We can’t help who we love, and the fact that a half-cast can carry two traits proves the system does not mind. The humans who object are more jealous than rational in their objections, mainly because they receive no racial trait to start with.” He smiled at the small-minded nature of the humans that were born lacking any racial traits at all.

“In that case, we would be happy to join you on your return,” Namir stated.

“Good. Would you like to join us now or on our return this evening? We can cut our patrol short.” He asked.

“We should be ready to go by the time you return. What are you patrolling for?”

“Just taking stock, culling or noting any beasts that are growing too quickly. We watch out for any incursions from the Loadstone or Endless Ice and try to break them before they become too big.” He answered calmly. “We’ll see you this evening then.”

The four of them strode across the valley, their long strides quickly eating up the distance and powering through the snow drifts when any barred their way. We waved farewell as they quickly crested the other ridgeline and disappeared out of sight.

With them out of sight and, more importantly, earshot, I turned to Namir. “We are going with them?”

“Yes, We’ve been lucky so far travelling through the ice with no knowledge of what we might be facing, but luck has a habit of running out. I, for one, would like to know what it is we might be facing and preferably do it with someone standing by our sides.” He explained his rationale for changing our plans. “Besides, this is a simple enough entrance into civilisation. The Thorpe sounds small enough. And they were not offended by your being my grandson.” He continued.

“Was that really necessary? Why mention it at all?” I asked.

“Well, firstly, why else would I be travelling with a human? I’m certainly not your slave, and there would be few other reasons to find a beast kin travelling with a single human child. Secondly, they are not idiots. For you to be able to keep up with us tomorrow, you will need to have some similar traits to explain how you are going to be able to keep up with us.”

“You know you could always pull me on the sledge.” I grinned.

“Look, we’ve been through. . . .” He started.

“Yes, but now I’m part beastkin and your blood, that means it's fine now.” I grinned ecstatically. He was trapped in lies of his own making. I was looking forward to getting a free ride out of this.

“Yes, well, maybe when you are exhausted, but not before.” He backtracked. “Our story is going to be that you were born out of wedlock to a beastkin slave, my daughter and that I was able to rescue you but not my daughter, who died during birth from one of the coastal towns in Ponente. We fled out to sea but were swept up in a storm and shipwrecked here. We are going to be working our way south to Ostro together back to our tribal grounds but would appreciate any support in getting there. You will have to stop using your magic quite so freely for the time being, but this is a good opportunity to be practicing your beastkin skills.”

“I’m not giving up my spells,” I argued, unwilling to lose the warmth they provided despite the growing levels of cold tolerance. “I’ll work on whichever other skills you want me to. But I’m not giving them up.” I continued, determined.

“Fine, that can come from your human heritage, but try to tone it down a little. It will only complicate the story as it will imply your father was a noble.” He hesitated, thinking it through. “Still, that would work as you would be illegible to inherit with your mixed race in Ponente. And any irregularities can be explained by a bastard upbringing.” He extrapolated, falling in with the idea. “Just try to stay within the realms of possibility, Kai.” He pleaded.