A Deal, Part 2
“Okay now, there’s no way in hell we can afford this,” Edan stated flatly, looking between the four very excited nocturnes.
“Actually, there is!” Zuehal said jovially, patting Edan on the shoulder. “Mister Marshall there seems to have a skill for digging up useful gems. In fact, Edan, I think you all might want to try to focus on that. I don’t think anyone’s tried mining out where you live. You might be sitting on a goldmine. Literally, even.”
“I don’t fancy digging too deep out there,” Edan replied brusquely. “Taboo.”
“You don’t live on a
burial mound, though, do you?” Zuehal scoffed. “Not that I’m going to force you, of course. But gods, what a waste of opportunity. At least consider it, you could bring such…
prosperity to
all of us!”
“I’ll keep digging,” Marshall stated. “I can sniff that stuff out, I swear.”
“You should listen to Edan - ” Clade began, but then stopped himself and shook his head before looking over his own scroll. “Or… I’m sure there’s a safe way to do it, right? You said other dragons mine, right?”
“That’s right,” Zuehal nodded.
“Ugh,” Edan shook his head and growled. “Look, we’ll look into this more… later. We’ll
talk about it. That’s all I’m promising.”
“And that’s all I ask!” Zuehal replied, clapping his hands together before turning back to the nocturnes. “So, let’s go over this one more time. Don’t read the scrolls until you are safely home, and I would advise you to not all do so at once. Transformations can be quite… difficult, though to my understanding most aren’t too painful. I can assure you mine wasn’t. Don’t be alarmed if you have trouble adjusting at first! You should feel normal about… a week or so after your shift.”
As Zuehal instructed the quartet, Edan checked over the rest of the group. Rorin was carrying a delicate necklace between his teeth, Solveig had a rather fancy-looking box of chocolates clutched to their chest like their life depended on it, and Ila had several small packets of what he assumed to be seeds.
When he caught her eye, she smiled and headed over to him.
“Hello, Edan!” she greeted cheerily, looking from him to Angie, who was seated by his side. “And hello to you! My name is Ila!”
“This is Angie,” Edan stated, nodding toward the pale nocturne. “She’s… going to be part of our clan, for the time being.”
“
Angie!” Ila exclaimed, beaming down at the smaller dragon. “What a cute name! It’s very nice to meet you!”
“Oh, th-thank you,” Angie replied, blinking in some vague surprise at Ila’s enthusiasm. “It’s nice to meet you, as well.”
Zuehal seemed to finish up briefing the nocturnes, and started to head in their direction.
“How about you come with me and I introduce you to the others?” Ila offered, holding out a hand.
“Alright,” Angie replied, carefully taking Ila’s hand and allowing herself to be led off toward Sol and Rorin.
“So, Edan, does it look like everything’s been covered?” Zuehal asked, stepping forward and holding out Edan’s list.
“Uh. Looks like it,” Edan replied, swallowing thickly as he looked over the series of check marks Zuehal had made on the page. “Gods damn, man. I still don’t really get why you’re doing this.”
“It’s an investment,” Zuehal replied simply. “And besides, I take care of my… friends, you know.”
“You’re still taking all of this,” Edan stated simply, shoving his bag of coins in the wildclaw’s hands.
“Edan, that’s not ne - ”
“Hey, I don’t have anything else to spend it on! It’s just a liability taking up space in my house, you
take it!”
“Alright, alright,” Zuehal stammered. Then he laughed. “I suppose that makes sense. I can certainly use it, bring more wares your way in the future.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Edan replied with a firm nod. “Any ballpark on when that’ll be? So we can be prepared, and all.”
“I’d say… late Spring. End of Tidelord’s, start of Gladekeeper’s,” Zuehal mused. “Does that sound sensible?”
“Yeah, gives us time to rebuild our… stocks, I guess.”
“I look forward to seeing it all,” Zuehal grinned. “And to see how much bigger your clan gets by then.”
“Hopefully not
that much bigger,” Edan snorted. “We already need to build another house.”
“We’ll see, I suppose!” Zuehal replied. “Do you need any help getting your bags sorted?”
“Nah, we can manage. Thank you, Zue,” Edan took a moment to bow his head, showing more proper respect for the merchant. He’d almost forgotten, entirely due to how hard is was to wrap his head around it all. He turned to call out to his clan. “Alright, everyone secure what you’re getting! Pick up a bag and strap it on! We’re about to head out!”
The sun was beginning to set as they soared over the trees, each dragon laden with goods from their trip. Edan was having a particular struggle; Angie’s wings were too burned to be used for long, and he’d been carrying her much of the way.
Solveig drifted toward him, Ila trailing behind.
“I’m going to go see Praz,” they stated. “And introduce her to Ila. We may both stay over for the night, since it’s getting late. Is that alright?”
“Yep,” Edan nodded. “Be safe.”
“We will,” Solveig replied before veering off.
Ila offered an enthusiastic wave with both hands before following suit.
Angie giggled to herself quietly, then hunkered down against his shoulder blades as a chill wind hit the group.
“Ugh!” Hazel remarked from somewhere behind him.
“See, this is why I wanted to be a tundra,” Marshall huffed. “It’s so godsdamned cold out here!”
“It’s
winter!” Edan shouted back, rolling his eyes. “Summer hits and we’re gonna have to shave you down!”
Much of the group was laughing at this point.
“…Fine!” Marshall replied, some vague amusement in his tone amidst his annoyance. “I bet I can do it myself, though!”
“It’s better for smelling rocks, though!” Angie offered, voice nervously raised to be audible.
“What?” Marshall shouted back.
“Tundras! Better at smelling!” Angie shouted. “You’ll be better at sniffing out rocks!”
“Oh. Cool!”
The rest of the flight went smoothly, the group in high spirits in spite of the growing windstorm. They threw jokes and playful banter back and forth until the wind drowned everything else out.
They landed before it became too much to stay airborne. Thankfully, they only had to walk another 20 or so minutes to reach home as the trees around them whipped wildly, at some points bent sideways with the strongest gusts.
“I hope Ila and Solveig are okay,” Rorin said worriedly.
“They are, we pretty much flew directly over Prazien’s home when they left,” Edan replied, shrugging his wings. “They might be worried about
us, though.”
Up ahead, the lights from their house came into view. Edan let out a relieved sigh, speeding up to a trot as he made his way to the front door. His second sight showed that Saerun was waiting just inside it.
“Oh, good,” she remarked as the threw open the door, only to start and then blink in confusion at the sight of Angie.
“So, yea, we’ve got a new friend,” Edan began before reaching into one of his satchels and pulling a bottle out of it. “Got your wine too. Damn heavy.”
“Fantastic,” she breathed, obviously still distracted as she accepted the bottle and backed out of the doorway to allow the clan to flood inside.
Edan unstrapped the bags he’d been carrying and helped Angie get settled in.
“I’ll uh, start dinner soon. I just need to rest for a few minutes.”
“Actually, Ciron and I got pretty much everything prepped already,” Saerun replied. “We can manage it. Figured you’d all be pretty tired.”
“I’m gonna use my scroll now!” Hazel shouted excitedly.
“No, I should go first,” Marshall retorted, putting a talon to his chest. “I made us the most money just with stuff I dug out of the ground! And I’m sick of being cold!”
“
I have a job I’m specifically supposed to be doing when I change,” Hazel replied. “
You don’t. I obviously should go first.”
“…I don’t mind waiting,” Clade said quietly, stepping away from his bickering clanmates and carefully starting to put some of their new items away.
Espen pranced off to find Ciron, a wrapped gift held proudly in her foreclaws.
Rorin watched her wander off, and then - evidently motivated - carefully made his way over to Saerun, taking the pendant from one of his bags.
“Um, Saerun?”
“Hm? Yeah?” the skydancer turned to face him, raising a brow.
“Here, this is for you,” he said, holding out the necklace and looking nervously away.
“What?” Saerun asked, staring down at it in confusion. “I uh, oh.”
“You don’t have to take it if you don’t like it,” Rorin said hurriedly. “I just thought you might - sorry if I was wrong, uh - ”
“No - no! I do like it,” Saerun replied with a nervous smile. “I just… I guess I didn’t expect it. Sorry, and thank you, Rorin.”
Saerun carefully took the pendant and put it on, and Rorin trotted off and busied himself with helping Clade put things away.
Edan snorted. He wasn’t sure if he should be amused or not by how awkward that scene was.
Saerun was silent for a bit, fidgeting with the jewellery’s chain and setting up the kitchen area. Then she called out:
“Hey, Cir! Can you come help me cook?”
“Yeah, sure,” the pearlcatcher replied before trotting out of the side room, an unfamiliar shawl draped over his shoulders.
“That’s a nice look,” Saerun remarked, then chuckled to herself as she slid a pan over the fire.
“Espen put it on me,” Ciron replied furtively. “I don’t know.”
“I guess it’s just a thing they do here,” Saerun replied with a shrug. “Grab some pine nuts, okay?”
Alright, so gifts seemed to make them uncomfortable.
Edan frowned to himself, then sighed. That would be a talk to have later.
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