Adam groaned as he lay before Sonarot, a pillow against his lower back. It was early evening, and Adam and Shikan had spent close to six hours working on cutting down trees, managing to cut down six trees.

“How is it that my Nephew is always so hurt when you take him?” Sonarot asked.

“He has been spending too much time enchanting and not training,” Shikan said. “He will be fine after a good night’s rest.”

Sonarot sighed, though it wasn’t as though he was wrong. The rain began to trickle into the Iyr, and so the families retired to their homes. Sonarot kept looking out the window as she knitted.

“Lanarot,” Adam said, the girl crawling over him repeatedly like he was some kind of obstacle. “You must get revenge for me.”

Lanarot babbled as she continued to crawl over her brother, before finding her favourite cube and playing with it, sucking against it and tossing it, alternating between the two. 

Eventually it was time to feed Lanarot, so Adam sat up against the wall, with the girl on his lap as he fed her some softly boiled fruit.

There were two light knocks on he door, followed by two harder knocks. Quickly, the woman leapt out of her chair and opened the door. “Welcome home,” she said, quickly embracing her son. 

“Mother! I have returned!” Jurot declared, embracing his mother tight, letting her kiss his face all over. Then he glanced over to Adam and Lanarot. “I have returned.” He smiled wide, puffing out his chest. “We have slain a Greater Elder Wolf!”

Adam remained sitting down with Lanarot on his lap, still feeding the girl. She was eating from his fingers, though sometimes picked up a piece for herself to eat. 

Jurot remained standing, smiling down at his siblings, all the while Adam ignored him.

The silence became awkward as Sonarot watched what was playing out, wondering what Adam was planning.

“Hmph,” Adam eventually said. “Look who came crawling back, Lanarot. It’s your brother who didn’t eve say goodbye to us.”

“I said goodbye to Lanarot,” Jurot replied, nodding his head. 

“You see?” Adam frowned. “He’s admitting to the fact he didn’t even say goodbye to me. Then he went to have fun and adventure all without me!” 

Lanarot bit onto the fruit and nibbled it, before looking up at Jurot. She stared up at him for a moment, before going back to eating her fruit. 

“How much did you guys even make for the party fund?” Adam asked, still not looking at Jurot.

“One hundred gold,” Jurot said. “We earned close to a thousand gold on our adventure.”

“Do you hear that, Lanarot? They went out without me and didn’t even manage to make as much as me. What a bunch of no good…” Adam realised he couldn’t curse. “No gooders!”

“Ooh,” Lanarot babbled as she bit into another piece of fruit, tossing one half of it. 

“Yeah, right?” Adam replied, as though she wasn’t just babbling.

Sonarot placed a hand on Adam’s head, brushing his hair. “Will you not greet your brother properly?”

Adam couldn’t fight against his Aunt who always treated him so well. “I would, but my legs still hurt so I can’t stand up.”

“What happened to your legs?” Jurot asked. There were very few things which had ever harmed Adam to such an extent.

“Work,” Adam said, seriously, as though he had faced a nightmare.

“He cut Stormwood with Shikan,” Sonarot explained.

“Stormwood?” Jurot said, surprised. He hadn’t expected that they would reveal the existence of the wood to the Half Elf so quickly. “Were we gifted some?”

“Welcome back, you damn wood nerd.” Adam reached out his hand, and Jurot shook the Half Elf’s forearm. “So what’s this about a Greater Wolfy thing?”

“Greater Elder Wolf,” Jurot said, smiling wide. “We-“

“Jurot, before you continue, there is someone you should meet,” Sonarot said.

“Yes?” Jurot asked, before someone tackled him from behind. 

“Cousin Jurot!” Nirot shouted, hugging him tight.

Jurot skid forward from the tackle, but then looked back towards his cousin. “You have returned.” 

The pair embraced tightly for a long moment, before Nirot pulled back. “Jurot, this Half Elf here says he is your brother!”

“He is,” Jurot said. “This is Adam, son of Fate.”

Nirot hadn’t expected to hear it from his lips. “He is?”

“Yes.”

“How did he become your brother?”

“I will tell you the stories tomorrow,” Jurot said. “Let me speak of the recent story. If you hear it after, you will not appreciate it as much.”

“They call him a Dragon Slayer,” Nirot said, staring up at her cousin.

Jurot’s lips twitched.

Nirot stared up at him, full of shock. ‘A Dragon? Really?’

Jurot then revealed something from his pack, revealing a dark wood.

“What is that?” Adam asked, leaning in to it.

“Deadwood?” Sonarot asked.

Adam’s eyes went wide with alarm. “How did you manage that?”

“Deadwood Minor,” Jurot said. “From a village.”

“Is it like Deadwood?”

“It is close to Deadwood.”

Eventually Jurot sat down and began to speak of the tale of his most recent adventure with the others. 

“That’s quite the tale,” Adam said, raising his brows. ‘What kind of creatures are those? Damn! I want to meet them too!’

“Travellers from Hakor?” Sonarot said. “Clan Waterveil?”

“Do you know of them, mother?” Jurot asked.

“I believe there is a tale which mentions Hakor and Waterveil from the Yah family,” she said. “Do you plan on heading to Hakor?”

“I do not know,” he admitted, but revealed the dagger which he had been given. It was made of bronze, and was intricately detailed. “This was the dagger which had been given to state that I am a friend.”

Sonarot smiled. “You have done well.” She brushed his hair, kissing his forehead. 

Lanarot crawled beside Jurot, staring up at him. She recognised him and the tattoo and giggled, before crawling onto his lap.

Jurot picked her up by the side of her chest under her armpits, and stared into her eyes. They were his mother’s eyes, and now his sister’s eyes. However, his heart did not pound quite so hard as it had done last time.

“You have grown well,” he said. 

“She has teeth,” Adam said. “They’re great at eating.” 

Jurot nodded his head slowly, already used to the queer thoughts Adam had.

Adam glanced at the dagger, the blade of which was about as long and wide as his hand. “What a hefty dagger. Ah, speaking of which. Do you want to see the weapons I enchanted? I was really lucky.”

Adam revealed the swords he had enchanted, as well as the axe. “This is Dunes’ Sword, which is probably my second best weapon to date. One could argue it’s my best, but I like my axe more.”

“An axe?” Jurot asked, but he picked up Dunes’ Sword. He meditated with it, since Adam had revealed it to him first, and after a while he trained in the rain, slashing around, cutting into some wood. “It is quite a powerful blade. Dunes will like it.”

Adam smiled. “Where are they, anyway?”

“They are in a hut,” Jurot said. “They will meet us in the morning.”

“Don’t tell Dunes that you got to play with it first, I don’t want him to feel bad,” Adam joked. “Tomorrow you can play with my axe since it’s already quite late.” He wondered what Jurot would think of his axe.

“This blade may be best in your hands,” Jurot said. “Or Jonn’s.”

“Jonn is a butt,” Adam said, simply. “I don’t trust him with a magical blade yet. He’s still not sworn his Oaths to me, so he can suck it. Plus, I said it would be for Dunes, so it belongs to Dunes.”

Jurot nodded. He liked that about Adam, the fact that he kept his word, even if it was easier and better for him not to keep it. The blade was also greater than his own axe in some ways, though it was far more temperamental. 

“These two are for Entalia, for when she brings me back those weapons,” Adam said, smiling. 

“Why did you trade for the Sapphicule weapons?” Jurot asked. “These weapons are greater than the Sapphicule weapons you will receive.”

“I assume that the Sapphicule weapons will allow me to enchant easier, so I may be able to enchant them with a greater enchantment. Also, aren’t they really cool?” Adam laughed. 

Jurot stared at him.

“Jurot, I traded them to her because she’s my friend,” Adam said. “Even if she is a stranger right now, we’ll be closer in the future.”

Jurot nodded.

“Entalia?” Nirot asked, glancing between the pair. “The Silver Nightmare?”

“Yeah,” Adam said.

Nirot glanced between the pair of them again. ‘Am I the only one here who is normal?’

Lanarot yawned. “Oo,” she said, resting her head against Adam’s side. 

“Are you tired, little Lanababy?” Adam asked as he picked her up and pat her back gently. “Go ahead and sleep. I’ll protect you from any nightmares. Now that Jurot’s back, he’ll be able to help too.”

Jurot stared at Adam. ‘Lanarot will need me to understand what it means to be normal.’

 

 

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Adam is going to be the most embarrassing father in the Iyr.

Nay, Aldland.

Nay, the entire world.