Chapter 109: A fine Feast
Jarix and Glira had returned with quite the haul. Glira had dropped her massive nets on a small herd of deer, letting them more or less pick which they wanted. They let the rest go as not to wipe them out entirely. That scored the dragons a few snacks for the first leg of their trip too. The five dragons present and the rather large number of people had forced them to hold the feast outside. Luckily the weather had been excellent. Fires had been organized with turning spits for the deer, and the keep’s own kitchen supplied the rest of the food.
Tom hadn’t really felt up for partaking in the drinking following his last experience, and unlike last time Jacky had let him abstain. She still poked a bit of fun at him for it, since well at least the stuff they had brewed themselves should be good and their local ale had been just fine last time.
It had been a fine meal, though what really carried the feast was the good company and there being plenty of food to go around. After they had finished eating, Esmeralda and Fengi had asked Tom if they could go get the ”music box” as they stubbornly called it. Victoria had put a stop to that though, calling everyone to attention. As she was waiting for the chattering to calm down, Glira’s officer walking up beside her carrying a few small boxes.
“Eyes up here please… We have a few heroes among us tonight. While some might argue that orders were disobeyed and their actions at times reckless, there is no arguing with the results, nor the bravery displayed. As such, I have been awarded the privilege of handing out some awards on behalf of the crown. I need Zarko, Jarix, Jackalope, Tom, and Unkai up here please.”
Tom and Jacky looked at each other for a second, Tom giving a shrug as Jacky grew a speculative smile before getting up.
“Very good, in a line please, Jarix just stand round back,” Victoria ordered, gesturing them into place. “First off, congratulations on the promotion, Lieutenant Zarko,” Victoria started, putting emphasis on the new rank as she handed Zarko a sealed scroll and two copper bands for her armor. “You managed to adapt to a difficult situation, facing off against an unknown enemy on an unknown battlefield. You managed to protect your charge in the face of overwhelming numbers. Downing no less than three enemy lancers in Jarix's defense and inflicting heavy losses to enemy regulars. For this you have been awarded the silver sword for valor in the face of darkness. Congratulations.” People cheered for her as Jarix pounded the ground a few times behind them in approval. Tom caught a few kids clapping a bit, Kiran of course leading the effort. Tom gave her a round of applause too. Staying true to your roots and all that.
Ylditz handed Victoria a small box which she opened and presented to Zarko. Tom had a bit of a peek to look, it looked like a very simple little medal. A circle with a spike starting from the bottom and tapering towards the top, the little thing hanging from a nice little purple ribbon.
“Jackalope Furlong and Tomas Hansen. You showed no fear in the face of the enemy and successively went above and beyond the duty of your stations. Both in the defence of your friends and loved ones but also for the sake of strangers. For your invaluable assistance to the Royal Guard in our mission here, you have both been awarded the Gilded Talons for service to the Crown.”
Tom had no idea what that meant beyond ‘you did good,’ but Jacky was certainly excited, looking to him with mouth agape and eyes wide. That was good enough to make Tom smile too, and it did sound impressive, that was for sure. It was an actual gold medal, or perhaps just gilded, but it looked rather intricate, clearly depicting a pair of clawed raptor-like feet swooping down to grab something.
“Unkai Tilar. For services rendered to those in need and for caretaking our alliance with the protectors of the forests, you have been awarded the Order of the Shield Wing. Congratulations.”
This was another silver medal depicting a pair of wings furled up around something, much like Jacky had done with Tom back at Deriva.
“Jarix, for successfully defeating a hitherto unknown enemy, and three of them at that, as well as facilitating the rescue of the Hylsdal line and Deriva Keep, your name is to be inscribed upon the Ivory Column.” That clearly sat quite well with the blue dragon as he turned to his mother and father with a very excited expression, shuffling his feet around. Glira was certainly pleased, stamping in approval herself, and even Arch pulled off a kind of proud father look.
“You have been granted a half year paid leave to be spent at your discretion at the end of any deployment. You may of course also have the sum in question paid out in advance. For the battle of Deriva, you have also been awarded your first veterancy bar, so the world may know you have been tested.” Victoria sounded particularly proud at the last point, and Jarix turned to Grevi with a very smug face. The green replied with a conceding bow.
‘Someone is feeling cocky,’ Tom mused to himself with a smirk. There wasn’t anyone here who hadn’t earned their place though. Come to think of it, a case could be made for him owing his life to every last one of them… well maybe not Jarix directly, but none of this had a chance of happening without him.
“How do I look?” Jacky questioned, turning to him while holding the medal in place on her chest plate. She struck what Tom assumed she thought was a heroic pose, looking off into the distance.
“Like you belong on a recruitment poster for something dangerous.”
“Nah, that would just put them off. They need something easier to aspire to.” Tom tried not to laugh at that, but he was not really successful, limiting it to a restrained snicker.
“Hey,” Jacky protested, looking very offended at him. “You damn near died twice, and they still gave you a medal. If anything shouldn't it be for those who saved your ass?”
“A saving my ass medal would be about as common as your bad ideas.”
“That's two insults now, are you sure you wanna push your luck?” Jacky replied, crossing her arms with a wide smirk.
“Sure, how else are people gonna get their 'save a Tom' medal?”
“I’m gonna force mum to make one just to spite you now. You know that, right?” Jacky replied as they walked back into the crowd. Everyone congratulated them and asked to see the medals.
“Just remember Saph gets the first one,” Tom joked, as Saph came over, making sure she heard.
“Yeah, but I get two, at least that’s still better.”
“I get a what now?” Saph questioned with a suspicious expression.
“A medal for saving Tom, maybe we should just keep scores,” Jacky replied as Shiva came up, the huntress switching her attention to her mother.
“I see I’m not the only one who’s proud of you,” the smith let out, looking genuinely pleased, even if Tom was rather sure she was avoiding looking at him.
“At least I did something right,” Jacky replied with a crooked smile as her mother gave her a little shake by the shoulders, Shiva seemed to deflate a little as she glanced towards Tom, seemingly pondering her next words carefully.
“Congratulations,” she just went with a pat on his shoulder, giving him a curt nod, which Tom reciprocated. “I would have us drink to this, but it seems you are at least trying to be cautious.”
“No need for more of those medals than necessary,” Tom replied with a smile. ‘Hey, that’s progress.’
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Saph had to agree to the idea of having a saving the future of their race medal, didn’t actually sound like a bad idea… No that was giving him too much credit. ‘The source of life improvement around here’ yeah that worked. It wouldn’t carry any weight though, at least not for a while. Gilded claws though, that was up there when it came to nonmilitary distinctions. She definitely wasn’t jealous, but she couldn’t help but feel like they hadn’t exactly had it easy in the capital either, and they were not getting any medals.
What they were getting was properly fucking smashed though. All the time in the capital they hadn’t been able to properly let loose to celebrate. Well, with the exception of the first evening and that had led to… complications. Now, though, it was time to party. She had hoped Tom would let loose again too. That had been rather hilarious last time, but all things considered, it was probably for the best.
Fengi and Essy had brought out the music box and put on some of the more fast-paced stuff. Tom had gone to fetch some of the things from the little movie setup he had put together to help spread the music a little further around. It was hilarious to see the expressions of everyone when they finally got it all to work. Tink looked like he had damn near creamed himself at the notion that no magic was involved. A point which Linkosta did not easily surrender to, wanting one of the music boxes dismantled for study, a notion Tink wholeheartedly agreed with. Tom very clearly refused them though, stating it was time for fun tonight, tech would come later.
They didn’t even have to assign many to stay sober, just in case. They had five dragons here, and despite Tom’s earlier warnings they had yet to make enough spirits to drink one of them under the table. All their new members though, they could definitely manage that. They had brought some rather good ales from the capital. Mainly, though, it was Raulf’s homebrew and the products of the distillery, both pure and watered down with strong tea, that were served tonight. It didn’t taste brilliant but it sure did the job.
Saph had gathered Ray, Bo, Pho, and Junior around a table, Radexi eventually coming over to join too. The two young boys seemed to hit it off well enough. Radexi was clearly more brash than the rather cautious Junior. Sapphire grew even more convinced Junior probably hadn’t had that many friends before, but He looked happy right now though so that was nice.
With Radexi leading the charge and the clearly new experience of trying actual liquor, they soon had him talking though. Mainly about some of the dumb things he and his father had done. Ray had at first been reluctant to drink with this many people around, but eventually, she did get going, quickly turning into an absolute bundle of joy. She made it very clear she still didn't believe everything that was going on, joking that she hadn’t dared to pinch herself yet, fearing she would wake up. Sapphire had been quick to reach over and give her a hard pinch, chuckling all the while. “Seems real to me.”
“I know, it’s amazing,” Ray retorted, seemingly not minding the pinch. “He even said I might fly again!”
“I don't understand this place,” Bo let out as she took a swig of the watered-down liquor tea. “How would you even do that?”
“You need to just go with it,” Saph replied. “There's no way to keep up. Not with all of it at least. It gets even worse when he starts talking about home.”
“Oh come on, I’m not that bad,” Tom replied from behind her, sitting down at an empty spot. “So then, no dancers here?” he questioned, looking towards where Fengi was currently doing her best to show up the competition, mainly Canabrera and one younger Royal Guard Saph didn’t know.
“Might do at some point,” Pho replied, lifting her mug to salute him, which Saph was fairly sure was empty again by now. “Give me an example of something crazy,” the young woman questioned, leaning forward on her elbows.
“We fly faster than sound and pretty much everyone can talk with everyone no matter where they are,” Tom replied with a shrug, clearly trying to make it sound like no big deal. Sapphire knew him well enough to know he was savoring the confused reaction from the others. Bo seemingly took Saph's advice and went for another draught of her mug, shaking her head in disbelief.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Sound has a speed?” Junior questioned as the heads tilted all around the table, Sapphire letting out a little sigh. She knew where this might end up going.
“Don’t get him started. we will be here for a week. No offense.”
“Some taken,” Tom replied with a grin.
“It would be a shame to have to do it twice anyway. Did Linkosta get to you yet?”
“Only for a little bit, she seems nice. What do you think she would think of the phone?”
“Oh she would love that... Actually, come on everyone around this side. Let's take a picture with some of our new faces.”
“Sure,” Tom replied, everyone, gathered around one side of the table. They seemed slightly confused as to why, but they did it. The flash got the attention of pretty much everyone around, Sapphire snickering a bit at Glira who started scanning around trying to see where that had come from. Jarix eventually explained the situation, leading to a rather annoyed-looking female blue scowling at them, though her expression soon turned thoughtful. The picture had come out very nice, and all of the others were utterly enamored by the impromptu artwork. Jacky had come wandering over, seemingly nicely buzzed as she sat down with Tom, using him as a backrest as he had started showing off some pictures.
The prospect of what might be appeared to give the two boys the courage to ask for a dance from Bo and Pho, who didn’t see any harm in that.
“I can dance too,” Jacky declared, getting up to follow the four youths then turning back to pick up Tom, who hadn’t grasped he was coming too. Saph again found herself unsure how to feel about that. They had long joked about who would be the first to find love. Technically Jacky had beaten her before, but even Jacky agreed Balethon hadn’t counted. Now though, it would seem she had definitely been beaten. Still, she was hardly the only single person around. Hell, Rachuck was in his fifties by now. With the amount of people here tonight it was a virtual smorgasbord of choice by frontier standards though.
‘Why not?’ Sapphire thought to herself, turning to look at Ray, who was the only one left at the table now. “Come on, let’s go see if anyone is up for a round on the floor.”
“I haven't danced in… I don’t know actually.”
“Don’t let Fengi hear that. She’ll spend the rest of the night teaching you,” Sapphire replied with a smile, getting up. “Come on, we can just watch if you'd rather do that."
Ray relented with a worried smile as they too made their way to the little dance area they had going on. They kept outside the bounds, for now, just enjoying the spectacle and the strange music. It looked like Ray found the happy upbeat song very enjoyable, soon humming along to a few bits. It was good to finally see Fengi get some proper competition, though she still held the spot as the best dancer around, after properly dusting Pho.
“She’s really good,” Ray noted as she stood looking at the younger people dancing away.
“You need a hobby out here, otherwise it gets a little boring. Well, you used to need a hobby.”
“I used to collect things, you know... little knick-knacks for the house.”
“As long as you don’t take any of Tom’s weird little things. Though he certainly has quite the collection of oddballs.”
“Think he will let me see them?”
“Of course, it’s gonna be harder to stop him.”
After a while of enjoying the music, Saph tapping to the beat as it played, Radexi had run off towards Jarix. The other youths turned expectantly towards the dragon. It had taken quite a while to try and sell the idea, Tom and JAcky eventually going over as well, to add their voices. When Fengi joined in doing what she does best, jarix had, to Sapphire's amazement, buckled under peer pressure. There were many strange sights to be had at the keep, but not all were of Tom’s design, as the eight-ton dragon had a go at some dance moves. Something he clearly knew absolutely nothing about. Fengi of course quickly set about teaching her new student what she could come up with that would work, even getting down onto all fours herself to try and show him what she meant.
She eventually got Jarix to the point where it actually looked like he had a plan. It could hardly be described as graceful, but it was actually dancing… of a sort. When Glira had broken down laughing, it had only spurred the young dragon on, looking to his mother and father as he turned the grassy field to a dirt patch.
“I love this place,” Sapphire said to herself as she watched the spectacle. She had a quick look around at all the laughing faces and people generally having a good time. Unkai looked like he was trying to psych himself up to ask Fengi out again, though he was seemingly not drunk enough yet. Saph and Ray moved over to help Esmeralda and Kokashi keep some excited kids from running over to the dancing dragon now that all attention was aimed squarely at the dragon.
“Need a hand?” Maiko questioned from behind her as Essy set about getting the kids to imitate Jarix rather than run over to get stepped on by accident.
“I think we got it,” Sapphire replied, turning back to the corporal, Holdey slipping past her, getting caught by Ray instead. “Mostly.”
“I don’t think I have ever had the privilege of dancing to music from another world. I think I will need an otherworldly partner too.”
“How long were you practicing that one?” Sapphire questioned with a knowing smile. It might have been cheesy, but at least it was new.
“Best not to mention.”
“The corporal wants to dance with the champion?” Sapphire struck a thinking pose, looking him over. Maiko definitely seemed like a nice enough guy, and he looked just fine, a little spindly but fine. “I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Sapphire replied just as the smile started to fade from his face, much to her own amusement.
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“Did you see Jarix?” Kiran questioned, who had found Tom and made it to his usual resting spot after slipping away from the rest of the kids. Arms, legs, and tail dangling off the side of Tom’s head.
“I sure did,” Tom replied cheerily. Tom truly sucked at dancing, and he was sober, which really didn't help. Luckily Jacky’s need for the dance floor had not lasted long, being broken by that truly ridiculous display by Jarix. That had left her struggling to breath with laughter as they stood watching from the sideline, Jacky using Tom as a brace to stay upright.
After that piece of entertainment came to an end, Victoria had come over with Glira’s head officer in tow. He introduced himself as Major Jortun, asking if perhaps they were interested in a little friendly game and a chat. He had originally wanted to play some game that Tom had never heard of before. But after a fervent sales speech from semi-drunk Jacky, Tom now found himself teaching poker to a table of dragonettes for the second time in his life.
They had started off without bets, though eventually, Major Jortun had wanted to put some coins down. The knowledge that Tom was technically speaking broke in that sense had caught them off guard slightly. They had settled on drinking poker as a compromise, with Jacky drinking on Tom’s behalf. After not having won a single hand during the warmups even Jacky relented that she wasn’t really much good at this. It was blatant cheating to have her drink, but oh well.
The faces Jortun and Victoria had pulled at the drinks betrayed they were definitely used to better stuff. Tom had considered fetching a good bottle, but eventually, Victoria had sent one of her crew to go fetch some from Baron’s supplies. That certainly made Jacky more willing to take on her role in the proceedings too. Dakota and Anchor had joined in after a few hands, and by now the mood was getting rather merry at the table as stories were exchanged. Tom went in-depth as to just how they had pulled off a victory at Deriva Keep. He had also broken his little rule as well, trying a few sips of what turned out to be a really rather nice brandy. It still made him feel a little odd though, so he elected to not push his luck tonight.
“Look, two red ones,” Kiran let out, reminding Tom of just why the game was probably quite fair despite him being sober.
“Aww come on, Kiran, not cool,” Jacky protested at the prospect she was likely gonna be drinking again soon. Tom felt her give the little guy a fist bump as he cursed their little arrangement a little.
“That’s good though,” Kiran replied, clearly trying to sound confused.
“But they shouldn’t know that,” Tom clarified as he just rolled with it. He might have a handicap, but it wouldn’t seem any of the dragonettes had thought about just how clear a tell those ears were. It also helped that at least Jortun seemed to fall easily enough for misdirection.
As expected, Tom lost that particular hand, much to Jacky’s delight. As Tom was dealing out the next hand, he spotted Saph and one of the Royal Guards walking off, looking rather chummy. He smirked a bit as he looked back to Jacky, who had gotten excited about the next song coming on.
“I’n one the highway to heel!” Jacky shouted out, doing her best fist pump, Tom relenting to sing along. “I don’t know what it means, but I love that one.”
“I still think we should do this right. It is a betting game, right?” Jortun protested once Jacky reached a part of the song she couldn’t quite remember. On looks, Tom would put the major somewhere between Dakota and Victoria so in his sixties somewhere. He spoke with experience but that might have more to do with the eyepatch and missing fingers on his left hand than his actual age. Because he behaved more like say Saph and Jacky or even, full of life and judging by how he played rather reckless.
“Who’s winning?” Jarix questioned, craning his neck to get as close to the table as he could.
“We aren't playing with bets tonight,” Tom clarified for the dragon, looking up to the curious face.
“Why, afraid you would lose?”
“I don’t really have the coin required,” Tom replied with an overabundance of eloquence which came off as only slightly mocking.
“I’d sponsor you. I get half the winnings though.”
“Uhm…” Was all Tom got out before Jortun cut him off.
“10 gold pot?”
“Deal,” Jarix responded, looking expectantly towards Tom.
“Hah, excellent! I can lend you the coin for now I know you’re good for it. Victoria, you in too?” The colonel seemed to weigh her chances, looking towards Tom with an uncertain expression. She had fared better in the game than the major had, but she was definitely inebriated by now. She seemed to hold her liquor well though.
“I reckon it will be for a good cause... Mainly annoying Baron. I’m in.”
“Excellent! What about you, ma’am?” The Major questioned looking to Dakota.
“I can do that, I doubt it’s gonna be leaving the keep anyway,” Dakota responded as she glanced at Tom with a knowing expression. Dakota was the only one here who had actually played poker before after all, and she was at least decent at it.
"Big one is a silver, small is a copper,” Major Jortun went as he started counting out coins, placing them in front of Tom.
“Blinds,” Victoria corrected as she put some different coins on the table herself. Dakota got up though, excusing herself for a second.
“Hey dad, wanna see how to make money?” Jarix said, looking to where the four other dragons had settled down for the time being.
“Please tell me you haven't taken up your mother's gambling addiction too,” his father replied, though the tone was more goading than disappointed.
“It's an investment in something you have faith in. You told me that yourself.” Arch shook his head a little as he trotted over, Glira also taking an interest in what was going on.
“Hey Baron, I reckon you and Victoria are about to lose more money because of my son,” Glira let out after she figured out what was happening. That drew Baron's attention as he got up with a deep sigh, which seemed to correlate to Grevi following him over too. From what Tom had seen, the young green seemed to stick to the older dragon like glue.
Tom thought back to the days of playing poker for fun with friends over who was gonna clean the kitchen or the rare instance of strip poker if there had been girls present. Now, though, there was actual money on that table, and rather a lot of it too. And he had quite possibly the scariest crowd in the history of poker, at his side was a rather drunk Jacky, and a half-sleeping kid... on his head… ‘How did my life come to this?’
When Dakota came back she didn’t take her seat; instead, she led over a rather bewildered-looking Esmeralda, who sat down.‘Goddammit,’ Tom cursed. Sure, he had beaten her before, but she was definitely better at this than Dakota. He deposited Kiran into his mother's arms now that they were free and instructed Jacky to not look at his cards. He knew that if anyone was gonna give the game away it would be her in this situation.
Jortun seemingly hadn’t learned much from the first rounds, being as easy to read as a book. Victoria, though, had clearly figured out Tom was paying attention to her ears, fooling him a few times. She seemed to struggle to figure him out in return though, so it became a mostly fair game, with Jortun going bust rather quickly. Essy was easy enough to read, but the reverse was clearly also true. It didn’t take Tom too long to start finding other tells for Victoria though, mainly that she needed time to think when she had something good. As did Essy for that matter. He guessed they weren't quite down with the rules and cards yet, so they needed to go over them in their heads.
Slowly, yet steadily, he began ripping Victoria off, hand by hand, to her evident annoyance. Essy played very cautiously, which resulted in her and Tom being the last two at the table. With only two playing and Tom having a large cash advantage by now, it wasn’t long until he managed to sucker her into an overbid, leaving her so broke it was easy to take home all forty gold for him and Jarix.
Essy looked back to Dakota with an apologetic shrug, Dakota still holding the smile from earlier. Tom reckoned she was confident in the money still going towards the projects of the keep. Which was probably correct, all things considered. Jortun and Victoria weren’t upset either, giving him a handshake and congratulating him on a game well played.
“See, I told you,” Jarix let out, sounding rather proud. Just made 15 gold without lifting a claw, that’s good business.”
“I can’t fault you there,” Archon relented. Glira also appeared rather pleased with the result, as she gave Arch a rather hard if playful shunt to the shoulder, which Tom reckoned would have crushed him into a fine paste.
The sun had been starting to get low in the sky as the game came to an end. Arch’s crew and the dragonettes crewing the combat wing had set up tents for the night before the start of festivities. There was still a little cleaning to do though, and things that needed to be carried back inside before nightfall.
Jarix had gotten his gold, and Linkosta had not materialized to ask Tom to look at stars, so he declared himself off for the night now. Tink and Junior had taken up temporary sleeping quarters in the grand hall after Tom had vetoed the idea of having them sleep in the workshop on the reasoning that they didn’t yet know what not to touch.
The two new huntresses had been given a room to share, for now, Ray being put to bed in her own room by Dakota and Sapphire after she had fallen asleep at a table. All in all, this had been a good day Tom thought to himself as he waved at Saph and Dakota returning to their own bedrooms. Saph got off a return wave before Jacky grabbed him by the shoulders, yanking him inside the room they sort of shared by now. ‘And it just got better.’