Note met him in the doorway, loudly yelling his name in worry. “Johan!” and closely looking him over.

“Did she hurt you?” He asked, then immediately changed his tone when he saw Johan was fine. “Did you hurt her?”

Johan scoffed. “I can have a conversation where nobody gets hurt.”

“Oh, come on.” Frey pouted, having followed after Note. He was looking genuinely disappointed that he wasn’t hearing a tale about an epic fight of bloodshed and horror. “You disappeared with Vero, something happened.”

Then his mouth shut with a click as his eyes caught on something. Johan looked back to see Vero walking in, looking more pleased than Johan had ever seen her.

He scowled. It looked like she had won a fight. She met Johan’s eyes and to his shock she gave him a small, almost unnoticeable bow.

Johan followed her with wide eyes as she walked back to Signe, and this time instead of standing awkwardly behind her, she actually sat down next on the couch. Signe sent him a small knowing smile and mouthed a ´thank you´ before looking away with a soft smile when Vero took her hand.

A loud racket made Johan turn his head back to see Frey stumbling over nothing, barely hanging onto Note who just stood there like a shocked boulder. Johan grimaced when he saw Frey’s slowly changing expression. He left them standing there, ignoring the way Frey’s head snapped to look after him, now with shock and astonishment.

He had barely got a couple steps before Frey threw himself in front of him, hands clutching the collar of his cloak. Johan huffed and turned his head away, trying to ignore the way Frey’s face was getting closer and closer, surprisingly still silent.

Then Note tok a step towards them-

“Nothing happened.” Johan snapped at Frey. There was no way Johan was telling him the sappy stuff he told Vero.

“Something happened.” Frey demanded, shaking him.

“Nothing happened.” Johan insisted and leaned back as Frey got even closer.

“Since when does she respect you?” Frey sneered into his face.

“Nothing happened!” He snapped back, shoving Frey off of him with a glare. “We just talked!”

Frey mouthed something Johan would not repeat.

Then he saw something in the corner of his eye moving towards them with great speed.

“Oh, look who is coming.” Johan said innocently. Frey twirled around and Johan grinned at the sight of Emil storming over, one hand tightly holding onto Einar who was happily being dragged along behind him.

“Well, well, well. Coming back for more?” Frey asked and crossed his arms. Emil looked down at him for a long second, a good head taller, before pointedly ignoring him.

“Johan, Note. I came to tell you that your friend is a lunatic.” Johan raised his eyebrows in surprise. Well, he wasn’t arguing with that. “Oh and also there are two giants outside wanting to speak to you. Unfortunately I don’t remember their names-”

At that Signe jumped up, having somehow heard them from her seat. “It must be Viddi and Dornir!”

“Hmm yes, that’s probably their names-” Emil didn’t get further before Signe flashed by them like lightning, leaving a wide eyed Vero staring after her, suddenly alone on the couch with the grandpas.

Johan almost fell over laughing-

Wait, where was Note going?

He stared as Note went over to the old men and grabbed a bottle.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Johan gave Frey a shove for good luck, sending him sprawling to the floor, before quickly leaving after Signe, Vero and Note hot on his tail.

He didn’t have to go far to find her. She was there, right outside the building, by the edge of the forest, Viddi holding her in a bone-crushing hug.

“Congratulations on your wedding, little lady!” Viddi declared loudly before noticing Vero turning the corner behind Johan. “And other little lady!”

“The giants want to congratulate you on your wedding. Except me, I don’t care that you got married.” Durnir huffed at Signe, crossing his arms. “And I don’t care that you look beautiful, because you don’t. Especially not your hair.”

Johan laughed. Those two were really something. Vero stood behind Signe, looking increasingly angry. Hopefully she wouldn’t try to attack Dornir.

But Signe only laughed and touched her hair. “Thank you.” She said softly and Dornir nodded drily and turned to snootily look off into the distance.

“Aren’t you busy with rebuilding?” Note asked the giants.

“We would never be too busy for our saviors!” Viddi smiled down at them.

“Oh, come on,” Johan added. “We’re friends.”

“Yes, we are!” Viddi nodded, agreeing vehemently. “But our gratitude stays strong, our small saviors. There is a lot left to do but the caves are coming along great! They are larger than what we are used to and even now we are still exploring and finding new sections!” Then Viddi faltered a little and scratched his neck and grimaced through his smile. “There is also some...cleaning...needed. It seems that the previous giants...uhh.. left a mess.”

Johan grimaced. Yeah, he had seen that. The horde that lived there before had been massacred after all. And they had not gone down without a fight.

“That’s not good!” Note exclaimed loudly. “Do you need any help?”

Viddi laughed and gave him a soft pat on the back. “Don’t worry, it’s old, and nothing we haven’t seen before. You have all helped enough already! Since we got here, Johan must have spent more time in the caves with us than in his home!”

It was true. Johan had done a lot of different stuff while avoiding Note, helping the giants was just an added bonus.

Johan could feel Note’s eyes drill into his back. “That’s where you were?”

Heh, he knew Note would never find him there. Johan ignored him and smiled at Viddi. “It was nothing.”

“Hmm,” Viddi said sternly. ”We appreciate it regardless.”

“We have a gift for you.” Dornir interrupted and Signe perked up.

“Oh?”

Viddi seemed to sparkle in excitement as Dornir raised his arm and grabbed something from his back.

Johan's eyes widened as a big - very, very big - club came into view.

“Oh!” Johan jerked back a step as Dornir let it go and it shook the ground beneath them, sinking far enough down to stay standing.

Signe slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Oh.” She muttered, dumbfounded. Then her eyes filled with tears and she looked up at Dornir. She ran up his knelt form and hugged him, well as much as she could, her face pushed into his beard. Johan smiled as Dornir visibly softened, his hand coming to hold her too. Then Signe opened her mouth again. “You give good gifts for being such a big, dumb-”

Dornir roared and got to his feet, Signe screaming with laughter as she was thrown and snatched out of the air by an angry Dornir. Johan quickly stopped Vero as a light flashed and her spear appeared in her hand. He grinned at her. “Just wait.”

Dornir brought her closer to his face, about to roar again when-

“Thank you.” Signe said softly. “I love it.”

Dornir’s mouth snapped shut and he breathed angrily, staring at her. After a moment he brought her away from his face and cleared his throat awkwardly, setting her back down on the ground. “You’re welcome.”

Johan had to give it to them. A club was a great gift to Signe. However, uhh... Signe was pretty strong, no doubt, but Johan didn’t think she would ever be able to carry that thing. The width of it at the widest was bigger than Johan was tall, not to mention the length which was much closer to Dornir’s own height.

“Well, we have to get going.” Viddi said and Dornir sent a final huff towards Signe before leaving into the forest while Viddi was still speaking. “But I wish you a good rest of your night, all of you! Bye.”

“Thank you for coming!” Signe yelled after them. She turned to the club, eyes sparkling. “Look how cool it is! Oh wow! I think this would look good... exactly where it is. There's no way I’m lifting that.”

“It’s a great gift. They really thought about it.” Johan added and laughed as Signe sent him a pleased grin. Her happiness was contagious.

He liked it. It was good.

“Children!” Johan turned to see Hilda coming around the corner and came to an abrupt stop, a look of amazement on her face, she reached for her chest as she stared at the huge club. “Oh dear…” She mumbled lowly. “What a magnificent gift!”

Johan snorted, it sure was. Then Hilda turned to them, waving her hands to signal for Signe and Vero to follow her. “Come on you two, there’s still so many people who want to speak with you!”

Johan watched as they left, an amused smile on his face.

“It’s time.” Note said and Johan frowned before realization dawned.

“Oh no.”

“Hah, yes!” Note laughed and shoved the bottle into his hands. “Drink up!”