Due to his high intelligence, Adam was able to learn giant fairly well. In the first week he had picked up enough to hold small conversations with others, and owing to the fact he was learning the language daily for six hours, it certainly helped his quick acquisition.

“The feast will begin soon,” Gant said, finding Adam reading an unfurled scroll.

“I’ll get ready then,” he said, rolling up the scroll and then placing it on top of the pyramid of other scrolls which he had been reading through. He picked up the small book he had been writing in runes which he didn’t know yet. He pocketed the book and hopped off the chair, heading out to see the giants all gathered around the blue fire in the centre.

Adam greeted the giants in their tongue, and they returned the greeting. Some of the children walked over to him, including Jon, the frost giant child adopted by the humans. Before they could interact, however, a figure appeared in the sky above. Their shadow formed over the area for a moment before they dropped down, shifting from their draconic form into their familiar elven figure.

“Sorry I’m late,” Entalia said, smiling at the giants, who had been calmly watching her descent.

“Good to see you,” Adam said in giant, before he realised he wasn’t speaking in the common tongue. “It’s good to see you.”

“You as well,” she said. “Have you been well?”

“Well enough.”

“I’m sure you have much to tell me,” she said. “Though I see that there’s currently a feast.”

“The hunts managed to go well.”

“I hope I’m not intruding,” Entalia said, looking to Joti.

“You are here under our Edict of Hospitality,” he said. “You are invited to feast with us.”

Entalia smiled her smile, the one which seemed innocent but no doubt was mischievous. Adam had missed the smile. She had been gone for so long, he had thought something had happened to her.

“Did you miss me?” Entalia asked, noting the look on his face.

“Something like that,” Adam replied, smiling. “Did anything interesting happen on your journey?”

“You seemed to have affected it slightly, but there was nothing major.” She smiled her smiled and Adam couldn’t help but wonder what she had in store for him.

Soon the feast began, opening with two fights in the arena. Each fight dedicated themselves to the two leaders of the expeditions, Chiefs Joti and Gutt, before they fought. Then Prince Aksak spoke, wishing everyone well, and for them to eat their fill and some more. It was very ceremonious, but Adam couldn’t concentrate too much on the words since Entalia was pressing her side right up against him.

Adam narrowed his eyes and sighed. “What is it?” he whispered to her once they were allowed to each. He reached out his fork to pierce a slab of cooked meat.

“I was thinking about the favour you owe me,” she said. “I wanted one thing in particular, but something’s come up. I wonder if perhaps I could have two favours?”

“I can grant you two favours if you grant me a favour in return.”

Entalia smiled. “Alright, I’ll grant you a favour as well.”

“I’ll use my favour to cancel out yours.” Adam bit into the meat.

Entalia stared down at him in surprise. “You’ve changed since we’ve been gone. Is it because you’ve found another woman?” Entalia looked to Freya, the tiny little girl.

Adam almost choked on the meat and then chewed it quickly, drinking down some of the giant ale, which was fairly sweet. “What are you talking about? She’s just a little girl!”

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“She’s older than I am,” Entalia said, looking to Freya, who narrowed her eyes at the elf-dragon woman.

Adam narrowed his eyes as well. The words almost slipped from his lips, but he managed to keep them at bay. “I’m still not into little girls. Freya is someone I’ve been tasked to protect.”

Entalia tilted her head. “Tasked by whom?”

“Lady Arya, Goddess of Swords,” she said.

Entalia furrowed her brows together, going into thought for a moment. “What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?”

“Not that much trouble,” Adam replied, though his eyes glancing away certainly did very little to give him any credibility.

“You met with it again, didn’t you?” Entalia said.

“I did,” he said, suspiciously eyeing her up. “How did you know?”

“Don’t you know? Our hearts are aligned together, I know everything that happens to you.”

“If you know everything that happened to me then why didn’t you save me when I was being attacked by a dragon?”

“You’re strong enough to handle it yourself,” she said, poking his cheek. “Otherwise I’ll have to use my favour for something else.”

“What is your favour anyway?”

“Why don’t you tell me about your journey first? Then I’ll speak about my favour.”

Adam spoke of his story, being quite practised with how many times he had to repeat the story to the various giants. His voice became a whisper when speaking of the creature, as though speaking of it would bring its attention to him.

“You have quite the journey,” Entalia said. “I’m glad you’re safe.” She placed a hand on his arm and smiled tenderly.

‘Careful, she’s still a vicious dragon,’ Adam thought to himself. “What’s the favour you need from me?”

“It seems my brother has become interested in coming down to this land,” Entalia said. “I’d like for you to meet him.”

“That’s it?” Adam asked.

Entalia smiled. “He doesn’t want to come peacefully,” she said. “He’ll no doubt come looking to fight with his army.”

“Could he beat the kingdom’s forces?”

“The chance is there, but there will be a lot of destruction. I quite like the kingdom, so I’d like to make sure it doesn’t turn to ruins. I’ll be able to make a lot of coin in dealing with the issue as well.” She smiled at the thought.

“So you want me to fight him?” Adam asked. “I’m not sure I could win,” he said.

“You wouldn’t be fighting him alone. I would be there, as well as my younger brother, as well as an army.”

Adam’s brow began to sweat. “I’m not sure I want that much attention, but I can’t let him come down and destroy the land either. This is quite the favour.”

“He might not come down for some time because of the black sun. I’ll send him a message, and if he refuses to back down, why don’t you just become powerful enough to defeat him by yourself? In a few years time you’ll be able to defeat him without much issue.”

Adam stared up at her, surprised. He didn’t expect her to have so much faith in him. “I’m not sure I could…” Adam paused. No. Without a shadow of doubt, if he trained for a few years, he could certainly defeat a dragon. If he created a few items, it would be much easier to deal with.

“You might not need to if he decides to back off, but that’s most likely my favour.”

“What’s your other favour?”

“Let’s not rush it,” she said, smiling down at him sickly sweet.

The food was delicious, though Adam was more interested in returning to learn the language.

The next few weeks passed by in such a manner, with Adam spending his days learning giant and checking in on the others.

“Adam,” Klara called. “We’re going to be leaving soon.”

“Leaving?” Adam said. “It was a pleasure meeting you again, I wish you the best of luck.”

“There is a small issue.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Freya, she…” Klara turned to look at the little girl, who was standing back a few metres away. “She’s quite taken with me.”

“I’m sure,” Adam said, smiling. “You’re a wonderful woman.”

Klara narrowed her eyes at him, but she smiled. “I think she wants to come with us. She’s not comfortable around the giants due to their prejudices. She doesn’t like the way most look at her.”

Adam frowned. It was true that most only tolerated her existence, but he was charged to protect her. He turned to look at Freya and then walked over to her, dropping down to a knee. He stared deep into her eyes, and she stared deep into his. She had also begun tolerating him.

“I’m charged to protect you on behalf of the Wintermother,” Adam said. “I’ll ask you to please stay with me until the Gathering of Frost is over, and then we’ll move. I know you have your own matters you need to attend to, and I promise I’ll help you deal with it. If you’re willing to tell me what you need done, I’ll make a plan for it.”

She stared into his eyes. He had learnt giant in order to speak with her too, since she was a Winterdotr and apparently only spoke giant, though she understood basic.

“Will you stay?” Adam asked.

Freya looked to Klara and then to Adam. She turned and left, and Adam wondered what it meant. “Klara, are you willing to stay for a few more weeks?” Adam asked.

“We’ve mostly completed our task, but we need to get going so we can make some more coin.”

“I’ll offer you some of the dragon scales that I have,” he said. He had traded some of the icewyrm to the group in exchange for some coin, but he still had plenty of dragon scales.

Klara remained silent for a moment. “Very well. You’ll pay us at the start of every week and we’ll remain until you no longer need us.”