“Hmmm,” Adam said, his eyes darting between the pair of young men. Not quite men, they weren’t even ten years old yet. “Jurot, I recognise this one. Turot, but who is this handsome young man?”

“That is Aso-,” Jurot began, allowing himself to fall for Adam’s joke.

“Asorot,” Sonarot called, wiping clean a bowl for him. The young boy quickly darted over to his aunt, before taking the bowl from her, confused since he already had a bowl, but his aunt passed him another bowl, and he understood, returning with two bowls. However, he didn’t understand what had actually happened, too young to understand what Sonarot had signalled to the pair.

Adam narrowed his eyes slightly, looking to Jurot. Jurot nodded his head, as if that was that.

“Thanks, Asorot,” Adam said, accepting the bowl from him. “I almost didn’t recognise you.”

Asorot sat opposite them, beside his brother, Turot. Adam was pretty sure that wasn’t the case when he left. ‘Did the world change when we passed through the realms or something?’

“Asorot is Mirot’s son,” Sonarot said, pointedly.

Adam’s eyes twitched, and he looked to Jurot. “Jurot,” he whispered, and then he looked to Asorot, who squirmed slightly. ‘…’

“He has been adopted into the family?” Jurot asked.

“Yes,” Sonarot confirmed.

“Okay,” Jurot stated, more so for Adam’s benefit than his own.

Adam raised his brows. ‘Just like that?’

Jurot nodded his head in response, before reaching out to rub Asorot’s head. “You will grow well.”

“Okay,” Asorot replied, squirming slightly. He looked down at his bowl, squeezing the bottom of it with both hands. He shuffled awkwardly beside Turot.

‘He doesn’t seem to like it much,’ Adam thought, reaching out with a hand to pat Asorot’s shoulder. “Why don’t we start giving out gifts, eh?”

“Oooh,” the children replied, eager to respond now that the babies were gone.

“I’ll save some of the gifts for the chonky boy and the other cuties, but let’s start with my Konarot, Kirot, and Karot.” Adam brought out small strips of golden cloth. “Do you know what this is?”

“Salafi gold,” Raygak said, pointing towards it.

“That’s right, Salafi gold, from Yellow Turban,” Adam said, before tying the ribbon around Konarot’s arm, doing the same with the rest of the triplets. “That’s one of your gifts. I’ll give you the rest later.” Adam embraced his triplets one by one, kissing their cheeks too.

The twins were staring at their older siblings, and Jirot pointed up to the ribbon and complained, groaning quietly as she looked at her nana about such an injustice.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked. “I already gave you your first gifts.”

“No,” Jirot complained, narrowing her eyes at the Half Elf before her lips formed a wide frown and quivered.

“Okay, fine, fine,” Adam said, before finding another pair of strips for each of them, tying it against their arms gently, causing the pair to stop whining, their eyes glued to the ribbons. Adam also quickly pulled them up to kiss their cheeks quickly, letting them down beside their older siblings, each of them showing off their little ribbons to one another.

‘You punks, who gave you permission to be so cute?’ Adam thought, ruffling their hair.

“Daddy,” Konarot informed Jirot, pointing up towards Adam.

Jirot looked up at Adam, still with narrowed eyes. “No.” She smirked wide and cackled up at him, before rushing up towards her nana, hugging her leg. Jarot followed after her and hid beside his nana too.

“You see this?” Adam sighed, shaking his head lightly. “They think they can bully me like this because they’re cute. It’s not right!” Adam huffed, and looked down at his children. “Just this once I’ll forgive them.”

As much as Adam was complaining, Jurot hadn’t seen his brother smile like this in a long while.

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“Before we give out too many gifts, and spoil the surprises, why don’t we have someone here tell the story?” Adam asked. “Before Konarot sniffs it out, and Jirot bullies it out of me.”

“Yoo?” Jirot asked.

“Yeah, you. You see another Jirot around here somewhere? You watch it, you little brat, otherwise daddy’s going to throw you into the air!”

Jirot cackled at her father, before staring up at her nana. “Nooo!” She continued to cackle.

“Is that her favourite new word?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Sonarot said.

“No!” Jirot cackled again.

“No!” Lanarot added, cackling with her niece.

“Okay,” Sonarot said, wiping Jirot’s face lightly with a hand, before offering her some raw vegetables to eat. The girl was soon distracted by eating the vegetables, offering some to her brother, who ate from her fingers.

‘Why are my kids so grown up now?’ Adam thought, staring at the twins. He looked to the triplets, with Konarot offering food to her younger siblings too. “Didn’t I tell you not to grow up too quickly, you silly children?” Adam sighed, feeling his heart ache.

Jurot began the story, speaking of their tale. How they conveniently met with Korin and Sara, and then met a group of Aswadians. Adam recalled he needed to sort out the weapons for the Aswadians, rubbing his forehead. Jurot mentioned the Ertas, the dying woman, and then their rather uneventful journey through Deadwood and Hill Grave, before mentioning the Chimeras and Nobby’s duel.

Of course, it seemed quite a boring affair considering Adam was involved. That was, until, they went north from East Port and made their own little fort.

“Hydras?” Sonarot gasped. Not just one, but multiple?

“Yeah, hydras,” Adam said, before reaching into his leather satchel. “Suckers came out from nowhere. Adam didn’t see them coming. Tore him apart, killed him right then and there. Poor guy.”

Konarot gasped as she looked at her father, narrowing her eyes as she pouted at him.

“I know, I know,” Adam said, brushing her hair. “One day your father will come back to the Iyr alive.”

“No!” Konarot pointed up at him.

“Don’t you start.”

“That is not what happened,” Jurot said. “You are still alive.”

“I am?” Adam gasped. “Oh, Baktu. I am!” Adam chuckled. “Of course I came back alive, you silly girl.” Adam brushed her hair and rubbed her cheek, squeezing them gently. “Speaking of Baktu, wait until we get to that part.”

Jurot continued the tale, speaking about how they defeated the hydras, and the might of the teen Iyrmen.

“Yep,” Adam said, revealing a large, thick scale, easily the side of his head. “I had to wrassle this bad boy away from a Demon Lord, you know?” Adam rubbed along the hydra. “Found the biggest, baddest scale for someone special.” Adam looked to Asorot. “Come here.”

Asorot finished the last of his soup whilst Adam shimmied away from Jurot, picking up Konarot to sit on his lap. Asorot quickly sat between the pair of them, glancing up between the two who had killed hydras. Hydras!

“I got this for you because your…” Adam held out the scale to Asorot, before looking to Jurot. ‘Wait. If he’s a Rot now, that means his grandfather… did he still kill a hydra, or is the story no longer the same?’

“A hydra scale… for me?” Asorot asked, looking up at Adam innocently.

“I got you more than that, Asorot,” Adam said, brushing his hair. “I heard it was a young man’s birthday a few months ago. First of the sixth month. I don’t quite recall exactly whose birthday it was…”

Asorot flushed slightly, looking down at the scale. ‘My birthday.’ It was a thought that he was too shy to state.

“Ah, well, maybe as the story continues, I’ll remember?”

Jaygak continued to speak the tale, revealing the fact they dealt with wyverns and trolls too, and not just a small number of them either. “When Adam returned from the temple, it was found that Baktu chose him personally.”

Adam tapped his amulet, causing the children to gasp up at him, while the adult Iyrmen exchanged glances between one another.

Of course he did.

Though it was perhaps the most significant event, it was glossed over quickly, so that they couldn’t ruminate on the thoughts for too long. They mentioned the aurochs, but before Jaygak continued speaking the tale, she looked to Adam. He nodded, reaching into his leather sack, unbuttoning the side of it since he was going to be giving out most of the items from within it.

“So there I was, within the depths of a labyrinth known as the East Port Market,” Adam whispered, as though it was grave news. “Through the gentle fog, I could see a beast like no other.” Adam slowly pulled out the item from his leather sack. “I fell in love the moment I saw it. The greatest shield that I had ever seen, that day and in that particular moment. One might say it was the only shield I had seen that day, but no, I saw a few more, I just wanted the best one.” Adam pulled it onto his lap. “A shield as strong as this, it should be able to help someone with their older sister bullying them.”

Jaygak narrowed her eyes. “I also found an item.” She reached into her own leather sack, revealing a long blade. The cross guard was wider than typical and curved slightly upwards. It was a well built sword, that was for certain. Jaygak pulled it out of its scabbard, revealing the faint waves along the blade’s edge. “I already have a sword though, so you can have it, Raygak.”

“Don’t say it like that!” Adam snapped at her, holding out his shield. “You have to tell him its for his birthday. Raygak, you see how she bullies you like this? That’s why you need this shield.”

“Sister, you must not bully me,” Raygak said. “I am a big boy now. You are not allowed to bully me.”

“I can bully you if I want!” Jaygak held out the sword, but her eyes fell to the top of his head, and she readied herself to noogie him, but she could feel her father shift nearby, ready to do the same to her. “I’m not even bullying you, I bought you such a nice longsword for your birthday.”

“Thank you,” Raygak said, taking the sword from her. He looked down at the blade, and then to the shield, taking it from Adam too. “Thank you, Cousin Adam.”

Adam smiled slightly, doing his best not to allow it to creep across his face any wider. ‘You little punk, how can you be so cute when you’re her little brother? You should be my brother instead.’

“Adam, Raygak is my brother,” Jaygak said, hugging her brother, causing the young Raygak to flush deeper.

‘Damn, she really does know me that well…’