Adam stepped onto the fresh snow, wrapping his yellow cloak around himself. He looked around to see a number of frost giants all around him. Some scattered away quickly, but he threw a nod towards some of the rest before he walked out towards the throne room. He didn’t want to walk into it, but rather to walk around the empty snow all around it. A giant followed him, keeping an eye on him.

Adam looked around, his eyes scanning across the city and the mountain. The white snow painted across the landscape, the blue of ice peeking through, and the grey rocks. The buildings around them were huge, of course, and were hard to see past. There were so many frost giants all moving around, living their lives. Some were looking out to him, their eyes glued to Adam. He felt a little awkward with their gazes on him.

He walked around, thinking silently to himself. He had come into the frost giant village under their edict and they had been nothing but cordial to him, and he had been so rude to their leader. He grabbed onto his knees and groaned aloud, cringing from how awful he had behaved.

“Are you alright?” the giant beside him asked.

“Everything is fine.” Adam stood up and looked over at the hall again. There he saw the pair of giants, Gutt and Joti, emerging from the hall, walking their separate ways around towards the city. Then came the giant Prince, walking directly towards Adam, between his sons.

“Taking a walk to think?” Aksak asked.

“Something like that,” Adam replied. “I’ve been thinking about life.”

“Good.” Aksak nodded. “To think about life in your spare time. Not many spend the time to do so.” He placed down his staff and clasped his hands around the top of his staff. “It is a surprise that you are so introspective, you seem like someone who prefers quick action.”

“Well…” Adam rubbed the side of his neck. “Yeah, I guess? It depends… I probably have the worst of both worlds. I step into something too quickly, and then think long and hard about what I should have done.”

“There is some use to it, but you can’t change the world with such thoughts.”

“Yeah, that’s life…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about calling you cowardly.”

“It is fine.”

“If I wasn’t under the Edict of Hospitality, what would you have done to me?”

“Nothing,” came the cool voice of the frost giant Prince.

“Nothing?”

Aksak nodded. “You are but a boy. When I was your age, I was not considered a man. I had yet to slay my first tri-horn, or sow my seed. I would have died by the time I was ten if I was slain for something offencive I had said.” Aksak smiled under his beard.

“Well, thanks for that.”

“You are still young. You have mistakes to make yet. It is the role of children to make mistakes, and adults to continue to make them, but to learn from them.”

“I’m not sure I agree entirely with the sentiment, but I can understand it.”

“Everybody makes mistakes.”

“I agree with that much at least.”

“I will ask that you remember that when someone displeases you.”

“I’m not sure I will, but I’ll try.”

“Trying is all I ask for.”

Adam nodded his head. He felt a little better after speaking with the giant. “I’ll be leaving in a few days.”

“To assist the humans?”

“Yes,” Adam replied. “I told them I’d send help, and Entalia said she was willing to assist them.”

“Entalia?” Aksak said. “Entalia is not one to assist without some reward, due to her… nature.”

Adam nodded knowingly. “Well, we made a little deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

“I owe her a favour.”

Aksak remained silent for a long moment. He stared down into Adam’s eyes, as though trying to figure out whether the boy was lying or not. After a moment he nodded his head and then looked out to the city.

“You are a strange one.” Aksak remained looking out to the city.

“You know, I get that a lot.” Adam chuckled.

“May we speak frankly?”

“Sure.”

Aksak nodded to the frost giant nearby, who withdrew out of earshot. “What are you?”

“What am I?” Adam asked. “I am just a half-elf.”

“You possess a great many abilities, that’s what my old bones tell me, and I can see you have some great allies.”

“Well, I just met them on my journey.”

“What of your divine familiar?”

Adam looked down to Bandlor and then back up to Aksak. “My divine familiar?”

“Do you not know?”

Adam looked back down into Bandlor’s eyes. “I do,” he said. “So you can see him as well?”

“What is the story?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked.”

“Entalia asked, and part way through… well, her reaction was very interesting.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I can’t tell you. Her reaction tells me that you probably don’t want to know either.”

“I see…” Aksak remained still, looking out to his city. “If I were to assist you in the matter of the human village, would you be willing to part with a favour?”

“What favour?”

“I have nothing in mind at the moment.”

“Is that true?”

“Not entirely, but for the sake of conversation it is.”

“Alright… I want help dealing with the mud giants. If you can deal with them so they are no longer a threat, then I’ll offer you a favour.”

“I must think on the matter.”

“Like the ice, huh?” Adam joked.

Aksak bowed his head. “I can understand it might be frustrating, but this way has saved us many times before.”

“Alright.” Adam sighed.

The pair of them returned to the city, with Adam thinking about how he and Entalia could deal with the mud giants. Depending on how many giants there were, they may not be able to deal with them. If only he could call for other allies who could assist him in his time of needs.

Adam realised he needed more friends. His face darkened at the thought of it. Friends were hard. People were hard. Though… who said they needed to be people? He could find creatures to come and assist him. He wondered if he should take a level into another class which could assist him with that.

‘God damn it.’

Adam walked alongside Aksak until he was back at his place of rest. Aksak bid the half-elf a goodbye. Adam stepped into the building and fell as Entalia grabbed at him.

“Whoa!” Adam exclaimed.

Entalia smiled as she pulled him even closer. The woman was strong, but that was no surprise. Adam looked up at her confused, though she flashed that very smile he had come to fear.

“Everything okay?” Adam asked as he looked around.

Redboulder nodded his head, currently holding up the princess. Adam stared at the little baby, who he hadn’t seen much of. Her skin was a pale blue-grey, which suited the giant city. She was a little chubby, as all babies were, and had short black hair atop her head. It unnerved him that she had hair, though he didn’t know why. She was dressed in a simple cloth that was wrapped around it. It was dark in colour, though it continued to change from dark silver to black depending on the light.

“Is she okay?” Adam asked.

“She’s fine,” Rojer replied. “We are safe here, so it’s best to allow her to explore her surroundings.”

Adam nodded his head. It was a terrible thing for a child to not have a stable home. She should have been allowed to live peacefully within her home, to have her family play with her in peace. His face darkened at the thought of who could have done such a thing, though Entalia tugged on his arm.

“Did you have a nice walk?” she asked.

“I did.”

“Have you thought about when you wanted to leave to help the people?”

“Well… I’d like to leave as quickly as possible.”

“Would you like to leave tomorrow?”

“Can we leave so quickly?” Adam asked, surprised she was willing to leave so soon.

“The quicker I assist you in this matter, the quicker you will fulfil my wish, isn’t that so?”

Adam narrowed his eyes. Just what had he gotten himself into? He shook his head and then rubbed his face, almost wanting to curse himself. Entalia smirked at him and then pet his head.

“Are you going to return to Muten?” Elowen asked.

“I don’t know…” Adam replied. “I don’t think so. I have something I need to do at the Iyr, and I need to acquire another magical sword.”

“If you’d like your sword back, we could trade for another favour.” Entalia smiled like she did.

Adam raised his brow. “No thank you,” he replied back. “I think one favour is already too much for my soul to handle.”

Entalia smiled a little wider, her eyes scanning his face. Adam raised his brow a little further and then narrowed his eyes. Why was she looking at him so queerly? Was there something within what he said?

“If you aren’t coming back, then we’d like to thank you for your support this far.” Elowen reached out a hand. Adam shook it and nodded his head. “If we ever have need of you, Redboulder will send a message to you.”

“Right?” Adam replied. Could Redboulder send a message over to him? Was it part of his abilities. Adam thought about it for a moment. Redboulder was a Priest with access to third gate spells, was there a spell which allowed him to send messages? Adam quickly checked the list of spells he had at his disposal, a single spell burning into his eyes.

Convey

You send a short message of up to thirty words to a creature which you are familiar with.

The spell was one of the most overlooked spells, with the ability to send a message to anyone one knew on the same realm no matter the range.

Adam realised how useful the spell could be. If he needed to, he could always communicate with Paul, or even Iromin if he was desperate. Adam thought about it for a moment. Couldn’t he have sent a message to Iromin for assistance about the matter? He could have invoked Lotag’s name too.

‘I really should spend some time checking over my skills…’

The group were then invited to partake with the frost giants. They sang and danced in front of the blue flames, which licked the air with its heat. It was warm, not hot, more comfortable than any other flame Adam had felt.

“The flames will not hurt you,” Joti said. He reached over and placed his hand into the fire pit, provoking several giant children to stick their arms inside. Adam straightened up in surprise, but noticed that the children didn’t seem to mind the flames. He stepped closer to the flames and waves his hand through the fire, feeling its warmth, which tickled his skin, and nothing more.

“Whoa…” he whispered. “That’s pretty cool.”

“It is hot to us, but that is only because of our blood.”

Adam decided to not correct the giant on what he meant by cool, instead nodding his head. He continued to touch the flames and then pulled his hand away, looking back to Entalia.

“Do the flames hurt you?” Adam asked.

Without missing a beat, the dragon held a hand out to the flames. “Flames as weak as this won’t hurt me,” she replied simply.

“Have you faced harsher flames?”

“Yes,” she replied, staring into the blue flames.

“Have you ever faced another dra-” Adam coughed quickly, crossing his arms together. “I’d love to hear some stories about you,” he said, trying to cover from his slip up.

Entalia smiled at him, this time in a gentle way. “Then should we retire for the night and speak?”

“Sur-” Adam stopped, narrowing his eyes. Her smile had rapidly shifted into her suspicious smile, so he shook his head. “No, we can talk about them later, perhaps.”

They were brought all manner of food, from fruits and cheeses, to vegetables and meats. There were a number of foods Adam had never seen before. He spied a particular round fruit, something like an apple elongated into a teardrop. He picked it up and felt how heavy it was, like a tiny bowling ball. He bit into the fruit, and winced as he felt as though he bit into a solid piece of rock. It gave way, like a rock sweet, and the juices flooded into his mouth. He continued to chew into the rocky fruit, the sounds of crunching reverberating through his skull.

The cheeses were also a little harder than he was used to, though it melted as easily as the cheese he was familiar with. He melted it over a vegetable, which he bit into thinking it would be hard, but the vegetable was fairly soft. It was long and white, like a cucumber, but it felt more like a banana peel as he ate it.

The meat was thick and tough to eat, each bite taking several dozen chews before it would go down. He tried to finish up the meat, but it had taken so long, he decided to stick with the vegetables.

The frost giants danced and sang around the flames, welcoming their visitors and celebrating the renewal of an old alliance. Adam hadn’t realised how easy it had been, but a sinking feeling went through his gut. Why had it been so easy? What did karma have in store for him to ruin this?

“Are you alright?” Entalia asked, biting into some of her meat, swallowing it moments later.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

“I’m just a little worried.”

“Why?”

“Everything has gone too smoothly.”

“Sometimes life is like that. Sometimes you come by and complete your task with ease.” She tapped the magical sword at her side. “Sometimes you still need to wait for life to be so kind.”

“I don’t know… I don’t trust my luck.” He rubbed the side of his head and then looked up to her. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“You need to relax. You’re surrounded by giants under the Edict of Hospitality. If something bad is going to happen, there’s no better place to be… other than my home, of course.” She sat up raised her chest in pride, taking another bite of the meat.

“Well… I guess you’re right.” Adam looked around. If the giants were as powerful as he assumed, he didn’t need to worry so much. He caught the sight of the little merman princess, who was gazing into the fire and drooling.

Yeah, everything was going to be just fine.