“Hoi hoi hoi,” Adam said, lifting Gurot up, brushing the boy’s hair. “Now that we’re done reading, should we go for a walk?”

Gurot smiled, pointing up behind him for Adam to carry him, but the Half Elf placed Gurot down. The boy pouted up towards his Cousin, his lips trembling.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Adam squatted to pinch the boy’s cheeks, jiggling them lightly. “Who asked you to be so chonky?” He ruffled the boy’s hair, distracting him from the want to be carried, before Adam began to walk off. “Just because I ask you to be chonky it doesn’t mean I’m prepared to carry you everywhere.” Adam stopped, turning and waiting expectantly for the boy, who shuffled up to Adam and then stopped, waiting for Adam to continue.

“Ooboo!” Gurot said, pointing towards a plant.

“That’s right, it’s a plant,” Adam stated, nodding his head.

“Pah,” Gurot confirmed, before rushing past it, pointing towards the wall. He looked back at Adam and waited.

“Wall.”

“Oo?”

“That’s right,” Adam said, nodding his head.

Gurot smiled and continued to point at various things, having Adam name them for him. The Iyrmen glanced Adam’s way often, though considering he was wearing the Iyrmen’s attire, embroidered with a blue circle, with blue diamonds emanating from either side, they left him be. Eventually the boy stopped and looked up towards Adam, holding up his arms towards his Cousin. Adam lifted the boy up, brushing his hair.

“Since you walked so well, I’ll carry you back, okay?” Adam said. “You can’t tell anyone though, otherwise they’ll expect me to carry them all too.”

“Ah,” Gurot promised.

As the pair made their way back, Gurot squirmed, before he pulled his head away from Adam’s shoulder. “Dada!” he cried, pointing to an Iyrman in the distance. “Dada!”

Adam noted the boy’s smile before he turned, seeing Gorot in the distance, pushing along a rickshaw of wood. Adam walked over, and the boy’s calls eventually caused Gorot to tense up and he turned, seeing the boy, who had been allowed to run towards his father.

Gorot lifted his son up. “Gurot.”

“Dada!” The boy showed off his toothy smile towards his father, before he clapped his hands excitedly. “Dada!”

“Yes,” Gorot replied, before brushing the boy’s hair, allowing the boy to hide into his chest.

Gorot was like any other Iyrman, with the tanned skin of someone who laboured under the sun, a lean body shaped by sparring. He had lighter hair and eyes than Mirot, though not by much, though his son had been gifted his hair and eyes. At his side hung an axe, ready to spill blood should the Iyr call for it.

Gorot’s eyes fell to Adam, the Half Elf who had been adopted into his family. “Adam.”

“Uncle Gorot,” Adam replied.

“You are well?”

“Well enough, thanks to all the hard work the Iyr is doing for me, and you as well,” Adam replied, bowing his head lightly.

Gorot nodded his head in return, and with that, he was done with his yearly conversation with the Half Elf. “Gurot, I must return to work.”

“Oo,” the boy said, staring up at his father for a moment, before going back to resting up against his father’s chest.

“You must listen well to Adam,” Gorot said, holding the boy out to Adam. Gurot began to squirm and whimper, and Adam’s heart sank as he stole the boy away from his father.

“Let’s go to mummy,” Adam said, taking the boy, who shifted his body so that he could see his father. “Say bye bye to daddy.” Adam held up the boy’s hand and waved it to his father.

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“Hoo!” Gurot whimpered as he waved his hand, his eyes beginning to tear up as he was torn away from his father too quickly. He sobbed and shook, before wailing in Adam’s arms as the Half Elf returned him back to the shared estate.

Mirot rubbed the boy’s head, noting how his eyes were so puffy. “Why did he cry?”

“We met daddy, didn’t we Gurot?”

“Dada.” Gurot pouted.

“Your father is working hard,” Mirot said, holding her son close to her chest. “When he returns, you can play with him then.”

‘How is it that my Cousin can be this cute?’

Adam often read to the children, from the older set of children of Taygak to Katool, to the younger set of children, from Lanarot to Jitool. While he read to the children, Jurot sat nearby, carving tiny statues, though he did so out of sight of the children, and out of reach. He made sure to clean up any wood chippings too, taking the duty of brushing the floor clean during the evenings.

Kitool, too, read to the children, though spent much time with Katool, who would hold a book and slowly read to her elder instead.

“Dragons are so big,” Katool stated, reaching up with her hand to denote how big. “Sometimes they are not big, sometimes they are small, like me.”

“When they are babies,” Kitool said.

“Dragons are not babies, Dragons are eggs,” Katool stated.

“The Dragon babies are in the eggs.”

Katool looked up to her sister, furrowing her brows in confusion. “Dragon babies are in eggs?”

“In Dragon eggs, yes.”

“Do I eat Dragon babies?” Katool gasped.

“No.” Kitool brushed the girl’s hair. “Do you want to?”

“No! I do not want to eat babies! That is no good, no good,” the girl said, shaking her head, causing her bob to shake.

Adam tried to play Warriors and Wanderers with the children too, trying to play at least once a week. He wanted to continue their story, with the children going off to try and find their Aunt in the story, while Adam asked his Aunt what she had planned to do with her ill gotten gains earlier in the story.

“This is not right!” Turot declared. “Aunt, you cannot run!”

“I am not running, it is my character who is running,” Sonarot replied, placing a hand on the boy’s head.

Turot huffed, looking to Asorot for help. Asorot blinked, before looking at his sheet. He wondered if there was a way to convince his Aunt, so he picked up his dice and rolled.

14.

Asorot looked to Adam to see what the number meant in game.

“I mean, that’s a pretty good roll,” Adam said, nodding his head. “Aunt, can you make me a roll?”

5.

“Asorot, you find some information pertaining to a mysterious figure who is said to be in the far state of Ramsgotten.”

“I write it down,” Asorot said, writing the word into his notes slowly. “It is Aunt?”

“You think it is.”

“Okay.”

“Fight,” Taygak said, sitting up taller as she glared at her aunt. “Stormdrake.”

“You still haven’t found Stormdrake yet, Taygak, but maybe once you have it, you can get revenge.”

“Yes.”

Adam smiled, before Lanarot barged up to him and hugged him. “Papa!”

“Yes?”

“Lanawoh big,” she said.

“That’s right, you are big.”

She pulled away and pointed at the die expectantly. Adam smiled, handing the die to her, before the girl rolled.

11.

Lanarot smiled, looking towards her brother.

Adam smiled. “Good job!” He ruffled her hair, before she giggle and hugged him tight.

“Big girl,” she said, cuddling up to him.

“Big girl,” Adam confirmed, before he ended the session, carrying his sister back home.

The days continued to pass, with Adam spending some time with his companions too. He noticed Filliam was speaking with Dunes quite regularly, and Vonda was often found besides Jaygak.

The triplets lay on the floor, staring at the purple sky, the sun beginning to set. Konarot’s eyes remained focused on the sky, wanting to see the purple turn to dark blue, and eventually to black.

Jirot and Little Jarot lay beside the triplets, the pair babbling between one another. They would often point towards the sky, and some time later, the stars became more noticeable for the rest.

“Ogoo?” Jirot asked.

“Bab,” her brother replied.

“Bab,” Jarot confirmed, sitting from near them.

The twins looked over towards him, before they started to cackle with laughter towards him. For one reason or another, their babo saying such a word caused them to fall into hysteria.

“My kids are so-,” Adam began, before he turned to see little Kavgak, who was actually quite large, even chonkier than Gurot. “Hello Kavbaby.”

Kavgak held up her hand, which clutched a stone tightly. She glared up at Adam.

“Yes?” Adam asked, holding out his hand, before the girl dropped the stone into his hand. She glared up at him for a few moments longer, letting out a soft sigh, before she marched off.

“…” Adam glanced towards the others, confused, but he said nothing of the matter.

Later in the evening, Adam made his way up to the store room, and he unbundled a blanket from a crate, before opening it up. There he found a small box, kept shut by strips of leather which were slipped through a latch. He undid the latch to find a strip of noonval elk, scales made of wood, scales made of metal, and a book wrapped within cloth. Adam tore a bit of spare cloth and wrapped it over the stone, before placing it in the corner. He then closed the box, latching it shut, before placing it in the corner of the crate, beside other items wrapped in cloth.

‘Who gave Kavgak permission to be so cute?’ Adam thought. ‘Of course she’s such a trouble maker, she’s Jaygak’s sister!’

It was during the last day of the month when Jurot approached Adam. “There is a new litter.”

“A new litter?” Adam asked.

“Of pups.”

“Pups?”