Chapter 36: Fafnor Ironside

The Leaf party went back into the guild house, waved to Agatha, the receptionist, for hello, and then went to the mead hall. There was a broad-shouldered man eating a roast haunch of something in the middle. People ignored him, but the Leaf Party went his way.

"Fafnor," Johnny greeted, and the dragon shape-shifter turned to stare at him.

"Johnny, long time no see," Fafnor nodded to the haunch he was eating. "I'd shake your hand, but I will get yours in grease."

"It is ok. This is my husband, Filarion. My sons: Zaine, Nathaniel and Gregory," Johnny pointed at his family in turn. Fafnor's eyes were wide.

"Just when did you get three grown-up sons from a man?" The man said, and then barked a laugh. "You must have started young, eh? Do tell me the secret."

"We are adopted," Zaine told the man, and then forced his eyes to remain on the dragon's face, rather than his muscular arms. Those arms looked like they would crush people with hugs, if someone was foolish enough to let themselves be hugged by the adventurer.

"Ah, well, too bad," Fafnor took another chunk out of the haunch, and chewed. When he swallowed, he turned back to Johnny.

"Well, I hear you want me to teach a berserker how not to kill and still get the quests done?" Fafnor asked, and Johnny nodded.

"If you can't, he will hand over his badge," Johnny told him, sounding a bit disappointed at that. Zaine bowed his head. He didn't want to give up without a fight, but it sounded like he was doing just that.

"Well, I can take him off your hands for five months, and give him back a proper adventurer," Fafnor boasted, and Filarion began to shake his head.

"No! No way. I can't leave my son away with you for that long," Filarion protested, but Johnny pulled him to the side, and he began to whisper something in his ear urgently. Fafnor tilted his head, and got a good look at Zaine.

"And you? Do you also have something against leaving the nest for five months?" The dragon asked. Zaine shook his head.

"Johnny spoke highly of you. I trust in your abilities," Zaine said, and the dragon snorted.

"Look here, boy. None of the flowery speech with me.  Tell me what is really on your mind," Fafnor demanded, and Zaine felt like there was a blockage that had just gotten cleared away.

"I don't want to kill. I know that adventurers must do it, but I... I was made to butcher lambs, just the other day. One licked my hand. Its tail was waggling. And I still..." Zaine let out a sob, his words hard to get out.

"Well, I'll have you know that I haven't killed during a quest in years," Fafnor told him, and then pointed at the free seat next to him. "Sit."

Zaine did, and then looked to his brothers. He noticed that Filarion and Johnny had come back.

"Five months, no nest, no coddling parents," Fafnor told Filarion in a no-nonsense voice. "Leave him to me a boy, and I will give him back to you a man."

Filarion nodded then, and placed a hand on Zaine's shoulder. He gave it a light squeeze, and muttered.

"We will have to miss your birthday, but we can still have a party when you come back home," the elf told him, and Zaine did his best to smile. He would miss the twins' birthdays as well. Gregory and Nathaniel gave him one armed hugs, which Zaine returned.

"Listen to mama," Zaine teased the two, and heard as Filarion began to bristle. "Brush your teeth and all that."

"We will miss you," Nathaniel said, as he squeezed Zaine tighter. "Visit when you can."

"Yes, don't you forget about us, big bro," Gregory spoke, and then let go. "Because if you do, I call dips on your room."

"What do you need my room for, twerk?" Zaine asked, nose scrunched up.

"I will bring girls in there. Make it into my own bachelor lounge," Gregory made it out of the way of his older brother's grappling hands, but not out of the way of Filarion's own.

As Gregory's ear was tugged, and he was reminded by both parents that he was still fifteen, Zaine allowed himself a small smile. He felt someone looking at him, and turned without thinking to the dragon who was sitting next to him.

"Lovely family," Fafnor said wistfully, and Zaine nodded.

"That they are, master," Zaine answered without thinking, and then turned back towards his family. Had he paid Fafnor a bit more attention, he would have noticed how the dragon's eyes flashed with something that went beyond simple wistfulness.

His family left, when Fafnor shooed them away. Zaine heard something about a quest as they made the corner out of the mead hall, and he turned to the dragon, who went back to eating the haunch.

"What is this meat?" Zaine asked, curious.

"Horse haunch. My horse broke his leg just the other day, so..." Fafnor took another big bite out of the haunch, and nodded to some chops that were on a plate to the side. "Help yourself. He was a good horse. I honor him this way."

"Did you butcher him?" Zaine couldn't imagine the horse being left to die in pain by itself. That was too cruel.

"Had to. You have to understand that sometimes, you will have to kill. As long as it is for the sake of showing mercy, you should be able to stomach it. Otherwise, I have nothing to teach you, and you better go and beg lord Elathana for that farm he must have promised you," Fafnor began to eat with gusto, and Zaine reached out and took one chop. He ate slowly, not knowing what he had just done.

Dragon courting was an intricate process, but Fafnor was not going to rush it.

"When is your birthday?" Fafnor asked, and Zaine blinked at him.

"In a month. I turn eighteen," Zaine said, and Fafnor closed his eyes. Young, too young. Still, he felt that at least the boy being legal in a month was better than the alternative. Not that the alternative would have stopped him.

"We must celebrate it well, then," Fafnor said, and then finished the horse haunch with one final bite. He stared at the horse meat on the plate, and took one chop.

They ate in silence, and Zaine began to feel more comfortable around the dragon by the second. Surely, all the rumors about Fafnor were just that.