When Valen woke up, it was to the sound of voices outside. He shot up from where he lay, unable to remember where he was or whose voices those were as his brain struggled to escape its fog. Panic hit him, and he practically leaped out of his tent when he realized Hera was not there with him.

His exit drew the attention of Hera, Fredrick, Arlene, Aevra and even Raenelir, all of them turning to look at him in confusion as he burst outside looking deranged. When he saw them all standing there, grinning as if they had just shared a joke of some kind, he remembered the events of the last day and immediately his cheeks began to burn.

Raen, lying lazily between the tents now, the waterfront behind him, slowly pushed to his feet and stepped curiously towards his flightbrother. He brought his head down so that he could look Valen in the eyes. The wyvern’s expression seemed to be asking if everything was alright, and he nearly laughed as he so quickly thought to try and interpret the Highborn’s thoughts based off of the way he was looking at him.

“You alright there, Valen?” Fredrick asked, drawing Valen’s attention away from Raenelir and back towards the others. Sighing, he nodded, doing his best not to look too embarrassed by his actions.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just sort of… forgot where I was, for a moment,” he replied, quietly berating himself for acting like a fool. The others just chuckled, though, as if his actions were simply amusing. From their perspective, he supposed they probably were amusing.

“It’s quite alright. Come, now, breakfast is ready my boy. Your sister has already eaten! I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up,” Arlene said, stepping over to the relit campfire and the slightly smaller pot that was suspended over it. She ladled a few scoops of some sort of porridge into one of the bowls from the night before, then handed the bowl to Valen with a spoon and motioned for him to sit.

His stomach began to rumble at the sight of warm food, and this time he did not hesitate to dig in. He ate quickly, the porridge, though fairly basic, tasting like one of the best things he had ever eaten. Once he finished, the merchant's wife stepped towards him, raising one of her brows questioningly and gesturing towards the pot.

“Yes, please,” Valen responded, holding the bowl out to her gratefully. Smiling, she took it, refilled the bowl, then handed it back to him.

This time he ate more slowly, savoring every spoonful of the porridge that entered his mouth. By the time he finished, the couple had already begun tearing down their tent, and Hera was playing with Aevra over near the water. Only Raenelir still remained by his side, apparently content to just lay there and stare at him.

Not that Valen would ever mind. The comforting presence of the wyvern was already something he relied on far more than he could have ever imagined. As he stood, he looked around until he saw where the other bowls had been stacked next to the fire that was now starting to die out, since it was no longer being tended.

Once his bowl and spoon had been stacked with the others, he turned and headed over to where Fredrick had begun working to strike the tent that Valen and Hera had slept in.

“Is there anything I can help with?” he asked, his voice halting as he asked. He didn't want to get in the man’s way. The trader, however, seemed pleased by the question, giving him a warm smile before he nodded and pointed towards the other side, to another one of the stakes holding the tent in place.

“You know how to properly strike a tent?” Fredrick asked. Valen nodded; thankfully he did, having spent many nights over the years camping out in the mountains of the Divide when young wyverns began strengthening their wings for true flight rather than the gliding they participated in as hatchlings. He tried not to think of his father and brother as he set to work tearing down the tent with Fredrick, though it was difficult, seeing as the last time he had done this it had been by their side.

“Valen,” the trader began, as they were finishing up with the tent and preparing to move over to the fire pit. Pausing, he looked over at Fredrick, wondering why he seemed so hesitant.

“Yes?” he asked. Fredrick stood, turning and motioning for Valen to follow him over to where Arlene now stood with Hera and Aevra by the water. Although he was confused, he still went after the man, and when he came to a stop by the others Valen stopped as well.

“Valen, Hera, I know that… you just met us. I know that you’ve just been through a horrible tragedy. We would never dare to think we could ever replace anyone that you have lost. But…” here, Fredrick paused, and a moment later Selah continued, looking over at her husband as she spoke.

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“Fredrick and I spoke last night, after the two of you went to bed, and… we were wondering if, perhaps, you might want to stay with us? We… we always wanted children, you see, but it… well, it never happened. We thought that the Four simply had decided not to bless us with any. But you need people. We would never presume to try and take the place of your parents, but… you could come with us if you wanted. Learn to live like a real trader and travel all over Parovia. It’s a good life, and we would be more than happy to share it,” she finished, before then shifting her gaze from her husband back towards Valen and Hera, who stood there, stunned to silence.

Valen could not even think right for a moment, just trying to process the magnitude of what they had just offered them. It was a lot to take, especially on top of everything they had just been through. These were good, kind people, the type of people, he realized, that had more than enough room in their hearts to care for others. Even total strangers such as the siblings they had randomly happened upon by the waters of Ura's Glade.

The life of a trader did hold some appeal for him. While he had always loved working in the Hatchery, his brother Aiden had always been the one meant to inherit it one day. As a result, he had spent quite a bit of time over the years wondering what life might turn out like if he decided to leave one day.

Travelling with Fredrick and Arlene would let him see the world.

Yet…

Hera voiced his question before he could, looking into the eyes of the wonderfully kind couple that had just offered them the world.

“What about the wyverns?” she asked. The way that their faces turned sorrowful, then, told Valen what they were going to say before they said it, and he was shaking his head before they could even get it out of their mouths.

“With the Emperor’s decree, keeping them with us would be too dangerous. I’m sorry, but… we would have to set them free,” the trader replied, turning to look at his wife once again as he did so. Arlene was shaking her head in frustration, as though having to do as her husband had said pained her. It was obvious from the set of her jaw and the look in her eyes, though, that she did agree with him, which meant that Valen and Hera really only had one option.

“I’m sorry, because your offer was kinder than anything we could have possibly hoped for, but… we cannot go with you. We will not abandon Raenelir and Aevra,” Valen told them, drawing strength from Hera as she squeezed his arm in agreement. The couple’s eyes widened in surprise, before Fredrick’s face twisted in confusion.

“I… but why? You need help, and if you come with us you’ll get to see parts of the world you never could have otherwise! I know you grew up around wyverns, but surely they can’t mean more to you than a long and happy life?” he inquired, searching first Valen’s face and then Hera’s for some sign that they might change their mind.

“Val’s right. We are Galars, and our duty, above anything else, is to our wyverns,” Hera responded, speaking before Valen could. Her words brought a smile to his face. She might have been the youngest of the family, but she certainly understood the Galar values. Fredrick looked even more confused now, and he opened his mouth as if to express his confusion aloud before Arlene rested a hand on his shoulder, pulling his attention towards her.

“Fredrick, leave them be. We won’t be changing their minds. Just look in their eyes,” the woman said, smiling sadly as she spoke. So Fredrick did as she had told him, turning and really looking the siblings in the eyes, seeing there what his wife had already noticed.

Unflinching wills.

Immediately, the trader seemed to deflate, shoulders slumping as he heaved a large sigh.

“I… I understand. I just… I wish things could be different,” he whispered, before turning and walking back over towards the remnants of their campsite. Valen went to follow, to lend a hand with the last few chores left in the process of striking the camp, but Arlene raised a hand, gesturing for him to wait a moment.

“Just give him a few minutes to process. He was really hoping to be able to take you in. We both were, really. But I know determination when I see it. Whatever else you might have gone through, your loyalty to those drakes is more than commendable, and I understand it better than Fredrick ever will. I grew up down in Wyrvel, you see, at the foot of the mountains by the Tharos Hatchery. I know how strong the bond between a wyvern tamer and his drakes can be,” Selah explained, and at the mention of the Tharos Hatchery, one of the other two major wyvern hatcheries located in the Divide, Valen’s eyes widened.

He had never gone to Wyrvel himself, but his father and brother had gone on the occasional trip, usually to trade a wyvern dam or sire for another, to ensure that the breeding pool for the wyverns remained strong and diverse.

It explained why she had seemed so comfortable with Raenelir and Aevra right away, and why her husband could not quite seem to understand why they would pass on the chance to come with them on the road when it meant having to leave the wyverns behind. Hera seemed to be less fazed by this information than her brother, taking a step towards the older woman and smiling up at her.

“Thank you for understanding. We just… we have to take care of what we have left. It might be all that's left of our family,” she said. Arlene's eyes began to water then, and she bent over, wrapping Hera in a tight hug for several seconds before letting go and stepping back. Hera, for once, now looked more flustered than him. He couldn't help the chuckle that slipped from his mouth.

“Now then, I should go and speak with Fredrick and see what we can gather for you before we go our separate ways,” the woman suddenly announced, turning to walk over towards her husband before pausing when she saw the confusion on their faces. “What, you didn’t think we were just going to leave you with nothing after all of this, did you? If you’re not going to come with us, then at the very least we’re going to make sure you have enough supplies to keep you warm and fed for a while.”

Then the woman laughed and continued on her way, leaving the two siblings to stare after her, knowing that they would remember the kindness of this couple for the rest of their lives.