"Ah, right,” Adam said, noting the piercing looks. “I forgot." He laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

“You shouldn’t provoke their ire,” Paul said, shaking his head.

"Their ire? I doubt they would go out of their way to mess with me.” Adam couldn’t help his smirk. “I have piqued their interest, so I'm sure they're keeping an eye on me."

“You should be careful, Adam,” Dunes warned. “Vice Master Paul is right. Provoking the gods does not end well.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, dismissively. “You know, Lady Arya once gave me strength. I wonder if I should pledge an Oath to her, or to an ideal she likes?” Though it was to change the topic, Adam wondered if he’d need to swear an Oath if he wanted to use the powers of a Guardian.

“War is the most obvious choice, but monster hunting, vengeance, or such adjacent subjects would work too,” Dunes said, preferring the way the conversation was flowing now.

"Monster hunting?” Adam rubbed the side of his neck. “Well, I sort of do that anyway. Vengeance? If someone messes with me, I’ll mess with them back.”

"If you're going to make an Oath, usually it’s to help others,” Dunes admonished.

"Helping others?” Adam raised his brow, staring at the Priest. “As long as I get paid, I guess."

“To help others is reward enough,” Dunes said.

“That’s why your temple doesn’t take any charity or coin from those it helps, right?” Adam replied.

Dunes sighed, rubbing his forehead. “That’s different.”

“I’m sure.”

"Is that why you helped Nobby?" Jurot asked. “You paid to heal his father. Was it so that he owed you a favour in the future?”

"Maybe? I helped Nobby because I had the power to at the time. If he wants to help me in the future because of it, that's good. If not, then that's fine too. Nobby gets to see his father again, and that's worth more than a hundred gold." Adam swallowed, avoiding Jurot's eyes.

"Choosing an Oath isn't so easy," the stranger said. "To submit yourself to an ideal is something precious and powerful. You should be careful with your words, Half Fae."

"If I want to choose a conviction, I will,” Adam said. “If I don't want to, I won't." ‘Everyone keeps telling me to be careful of my words, sheesh.’

"What about Lucy?" Jurot asked.

"What about Lucy?"

"You had no reason to help her."

"No reason to help her?” Adam raised his brow. “She was a young woman in the middle of nowhere! If she died, do you think I could sleep peacefully at night."

"Yes, but you said she was your friend within moments of meeting her."

“Are friends so easy to make?”

"Sometimes, I suppose. They're hard to keep, though.” Adam flashed a sad smile. “Lucy was like me, all alone. I have you at least, Jurot, but who did Lucy have? She had a best friend too, who was missing, and now is dying. I want to live my life the way I want. If I want to live it freely, I will. If I want to chain myself to something or someone, I will. That's what it means to be free."

The stranger stared at Adam, wondering what madness he was speaking. He removed his helmet to reveal his pretty face, though there was a scar under his eyes, trailing down towards his lip. Though, most importantly, at the sides of his head, there were two leaf shaped ears.

“Another Half Elf?” Adam said, his eyes wide.

This stranger, who was sitting and minding his own business, was the first Half Elf Adam had ever met.

"I didn't expect to see a cousin around here," Adam chuckled.

“How old are you?” the Half Elf asked, staring at Adam.

Eagleknight Frederick narrowed his eyes at the pair of Half Elves.

“I think I’m eighteen or so,” Adam said, unsure. “You?”

"Thirty."

Adam nodded his head. “So you must have been twenty when it all happened back then?”

The stranger nodded his head slowly. "I swore my Oaths back then, but when the King sent for Elves to be slaughtered, he also pressured the Order for my head."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Which Order were you a member of?” Jurot asked.

"The Order Of Hill Top."

"Near Deadwood?"

"Yes.”

Jurot nodded his head slowly. “It is within the King’s influence, and close enough to the Massacre of Rock Hill.”

"I was kicked out of the Order, given a spear and not much else. I tried to live by my Oaths, but I failed. I went north and became an Adventurer, but this is the closest to the Order I’ve been in a long while.” The Half Elf looked to Adam. “I was thinking about what I should do.”

"What were you planning on doing?" Adam asked.

"I don't know,” the stranger admitted. “I stopped adventuring after a couple of years, and remained in North Aldland for a long while.”

"You swore your oaths, broke them, and now you're lost in the world." Adam stated, wondering just how sad this Half Elf’s existence must be. After all, he had sworn his Oaths to his Order, and then he was thrown away, off to fend for himself under the behest of the King.

“As a Half Elf, I’m sure you know what it’s like here and to the south.”

“Why don’t you just leave this place? Head up north, or go to another country where your pointed ears no longer arouse suspicion, and maybe arouse something else,” Adam said, smiling.

“It is not so easy,” the Half Elf said. “I was born in this land.” He stared at the trees all around him. “It's all I've ever known. I can't abandon it, even if it's abandoned me."

"If it's abandoned you, it means it doesn't want you. You should leave it, find another place, a place which will welcome you, and welcome it into your heart. You have nothing tying you here."

The stranger looked back to the fire, a sad look in his eyes.

"Or,” Adam said, resting his hand on his knee as he leant over, “find a reason to tie yourself to this land. I found the Iyr, which has welcomed me well enough. I'm a Nephew of a family, Jurot’s family specifically. I'm not sure what I'm meant to do as a Nephew, but I've got a reason to go back. I have an adorable little sister, the cutest in the whole world, who I want to look after."

Adam reached into his pack, revealing some ribbon he had bought for the children of the Iyr, but there was one, a blue ribbon, which he had brought for Lanarot. "I bought this for her, and we have some fur that we managed to get from some Aurochs we slew. She's going to have a really nice cloak when I get back and ask someone to make it for her."

"I have also brought back some fur to make a cloak,” Jurot said.

"Don't copy me,” Adam said, jabbing Jurot with his elbow gently.

"I had already planned on it,” Jurot replied, jabbing Adam back gently.

"Find something else!"

"No."

"Fine, then I'll have it made into a hat,” Adam grumbled.

"A hat?"

"Yeah, a hat. Also, once we kill that dragon, I'll be making the scales into a necklace for her, so don’t you dare steal that idea from me.”

"A necklace made of the dragon’s scales?” Jurot asked, staring at Adam.

Even the older Iyrmen were throwing a suspicious look at Adam.

"Yeah, I'm going to take a few scales and make them into a necklace,” Adam repeated.

"How many scales?"

Adam rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. A few, probably.”

"We give the young a scale each, and you want to give Lanarot many?"

"Yeah, of course,” Adam replied, as though it were obvious. He wasn’t sure what Jurot was getting at exactly. “We'll give some of the children one, obviously, but our sister should get a few, shouldn't she?"

"We can't be too greedy," Jurot argued.

"I'll take my share of the loot and spend it on her,” Adam said, narrowing his eyes. “I can do that much at least, can't I?"

"We should save up the loot to equip ourselves better," Jurot said, speaking sense.

"Equip ourselves better?" Adam asked, staring at the Iyrman.

“Yes.”

"Jurot," Adam said, raising his magical sword made of precious Iyrmen materials, before motioning to his armour, made of puthral, and then to Jurot’s own axe, which also held a magical enchantment. “If you need something, just tell me. That goes for the rest of you, though Dunes, you’re still on probation.”

"You're crazy," the Half Elf stranger finally said. "You would really make dragon scales into a necklace?" He had heard how the Iyrmen took scales of their defeated foes, but it was usually the damaged scales which would be handed to the children, and yet, the way Adam made it sound, he was going to make a necklace out of the same material used to make some of the greatest armours.

"Sure, why not?" Adam asked, as though he truly did not know why it was crazy.

“They are worth a fortune,” the Half Elf said. “I know the Iyrmen give some scales to the children of their families, but to give multiple scales to one child, it’s unreasonable.”

“Hey,” Adam growled. “It’s not one kid, it’s my precious little sister.”

The Half Elf stared at Adam, before noting the lack of tattoos. “How can she be your sister? You are no Iyrman.”

“I’m the Nephew of their family,” Adam said. “My Aunt says that she’s my sister, and that’s all that matters. Why would I come to you, a random stranger, and have you declare who is or who isn’t my family?”

“Lanarot is his sister," Jurot said, “as she is my own.”

“You are no Iyrman,” the Half Elf said. “You’re a half blood, like me.”

"I might be a half blood like you, but that changes nothing.” Adam crossed his arms. “Lanarot is my adorable little sister, from the day she was born, to the day I die.”

The Half Elf stared at Adam, his eyes full of anger. “Why would you go so far for some kid? Even if it is all words, you-“

Adam stood up, narrowing his eyes at the Half Elf. “What was that you said?”

The Half Elf stranger stared at Adam, glaring up at the Half Elf in puthral.

“Did you say that it was all words?” Adam asked, stretching his neck each way. “Just because you failed in living your life the way you want to, that doesn’t mean you can take it out on me.”

The Half Elf stranger stood, his eyes glued to Adam, hand gripping his spear tight. He noted the looks of everyone else, but his eyes remained firmly rooted on the young Half Elf before him. “You are just like everyone else. You talk big, but that’s all.”

“No,” Adam said, shaking his head slowly. “You are just like everyone else. You ran away when things got tough. So what if you were kicked out of your Order? You still were able to train with them for years, and I have no doubt you were able to learn magic from them.”

The stranger grit his teeth.

“You were given an upbringing some people could only wish for. So what if you’re a Half Elf? I hear the people up north don’t mind you, but here you are, back to Central Aldland, to where people hate you, and then you complain that it sucks? Are you going to make excuses until you die a pathetic existence?”

The stranger remained silent, still gripping his spear tight.

Adam exhaled, before sitting back down again.

“Weren’t you going to fight me?” the stranger asked.

"Fight you?" Adam almost scoffed, eyes glancing up at the stranger.