Omen: 17, 18

“Good morning, Adam,” Filliam said, appearing from nowhere. His eyes were dark, but he held the widest smile on his face.

Adam stared up at Filliam, a half broken piece of bread in hand. He had completely forgotten about the tinkerer, again. “Good morning, Filliam.” Lanarot grabbed his wrist, and pulled the bread to her face before biting into it.

“Have you been well?” Filliam asked, before taking out the watch he had made, letting it sway.

Adam looked at the watch, before looking up at the tinkerer again. “Not terrible, I suppose. Yourself?” He raised his brows expectantly.

“I…” Filliam sat beside Adam. “I have done it, Adam. I have completed the prototype. I must check to see if it works completely, but…” Filliam held up the large watch, which was much bigger than Adam’s palm.

“So soon? I expected it to take years.” Adam had thought Filliam would have gone through some road blocks on the way to completing the mechanical watch.

“It is my first mechanical watch so I am certain that it will not work perfectly, but I will be using it for a month to see how well it works. There are many things to test, but…”

“Congratulations, Filliam,” Adam said, patting the tinkerer’s shoulder. “You’ve made, perhaps, the first mechanical watch.”

Filliam sat up straighter, the widest smile on his face. It hadn’t taken him that long, and he had Adam and the Iyr to thank for that. The Iyrmen had supplied every little piece he required. “I didn’t know the Iyrmen were such great smiths. I had heard that they were good, yes, but whenever I required something, I explained what I needed in great detail, and the Iyrmen were able to make it within a few tries.”

Adam smiled. “The Iyrmen are great, aren’t they?”

Filliam looked to the Iyrmen all around and nodded. “Yes.”

“You need to take a week off now,” Adam said.

“What?”

“You’ve been working too hard, no doubt ever since we last spoke,” Adam said, patting Filliam’s back. “Take the week off and enjoy the Iyr. The festival should be on soon, so you need to take that week off.”

“I can take the week off when the festival…” Filliam noted the look in Adam’s eyes, before he sighed. “Okay.”

“Great.” Adam smiled. “I feel lucky today, so I’m going to go enchant, but you should definitely…” Adam noted the look in Sonarot’s eyes, and then bowed his head. “Elder Zijin requested that I assist the Iyr and to enchant…” ‘Sorry, Elder.’

When he was done with his breakfast, Adam made to leave, but noted the teens nearby. “Hey, have you guys…” Adam stopped. He had forgotten about Filliam, but he realised there was someone else missing. He glanced around. “Where’s Asoyah?”

“He was chosen for something,” Sonarot said. “He will return before the festival.”

“Oh.” Adam stood there awkwardly. ‘I can’t believe I forgot the kid.’ He rubbed his brow. He cleared his throat. “Are you guys okay?” he asked, looking to the teens.

“I am well,” Nirot replied, and the other replied equally as affirmatively.

“Though we’ve returned back to the Iyr now, you don’t have to worry. Let’s spend this time preparing for next year, and I’ll be sure to help you all then.”

“Okay,” Nirot said, nodding her head to him. Adam smiled, before heading out, going off to enchant.

Omen: 5, 6

“When were the kids born?” Adam asked, staring down at the babies.

“They were born at the end of the previous month, and at the start of this month,” Sonarot said.

“Damn,” Adam whispered. “It must have been rough, huh?” He continued to stare down at the adorable babies, some of whom were sleeping, and others which were awaken. ‘I guess I need to make more money.’

“What are you thinking?” Sonarot asked, noting the look in his eyes.

“I’m just thinking about how many more magical weapons I need to make now…”

“You will make them magical weapons?”

Adam turned his head to look at Sonarot, whose face was like that of stone, completely neutral. “I can’t?”

“You have won the right,” Sonarot said, referring back to why he fought her siblings.

Adam smiled. “What a cute little bunch.” Adam’s heart began to ache, and the image of that figure appeared before his eyes. He reached up to his pulsing forehead, rubbing it gently. ‘I’ve got to make sure they all grow up big and strong…’ “No,” Adam whispered. “You have to stay small and cute forever, you silly little boys and girls…” Adam began to rub the sides of his nose. He was hunched over, trying to deal with the pain in his head, the coldness which was beginning to seep through his body.

“Adam,” Sonarot said, placing a warm hand against the top of his head. “I am sorry, but they will certainly grow up big and strong.”

Adam caught her eye, smiling. “Yeah. I’m sure.” He let out a long sigh, but even so, the thoughts continued to fill his mind. He looked to his sister, Lanarot, and then to the other children. ‘I should work on farming more XP.’

Adam remained within the shared estate, taking the day off. The mothers of the babies were also there with him, though they sat together and remained near their babies. They had at least three months of recovery before they were allowed to work properly again, and so they all spent time with their children, keeping an eye on them, before discussing with one another all sort of matters.

Adam remained in the corner, a book in hand, writing notes for Warriors and Wanderers. However, his thoughts remained on the children, who were growing up so quickly. Taygak was half way to becoming an adult who could eventually leave the Iyr, and she would go out to adventure. Once she had, if she died outside the Iyr, then she would not be revived.

“What is the matter?” Jurot asked, sitting beside Adam. He had not gone to enchant that day, and considering he was who he was, it meant something was wrong.

“I’m just worried about the children,” Adam said, not wanting to lie to his brother.

“The Goblins will be taken care of well.”

Relief set within Adam’s heart as Jurot took his words another way. ‘Right, of course…’ “Even so, I don’t really know what will happen to them, you know? They say they’re going to be small children of the Iyr.”

“They will be protected.”

“Right, but… their freedom would be restricted, right? They wouldn’t be able to leave the Iyr?”

“They could if they were a Niece and Nephew of the Rot family, but if they leave, then they would not be welcomed in the lands.”

“They’ll be hunted down?”

“Yes.”

Adam looked up towards the sky. “Isn’t that sad, Jurot?” Adam sighed. He reached up to his forehead, and rubbed it. “The children are… I mean, I saved them, you know? I should be the one to look after them, but I’ve pawned them off to the Iyr. Aren’t they meant to be my responsibility?”

“Do you wish to adopt them?” Jurot asked, wondering what Adam was getting to. It sounded like an Adam thing to think.

Adam sat up, his brows furrowed. He looked to Jurot, confused. “I can do that?”

Jurot stared back at Adam. ‘Could he?’ “I do not see why you could not.”

Adam remained staring at Jurot, who remained staring at him. “Then… I’ll do that?”

Jurot remained silent. He, of all people, was resistant to Adam’s shocking behaviour, as he was resistant to most things when he raged, but this had taken him even by surprise. Adam hadn’t thought about adopting them, but within moments, he had.

“You should speak to Elder Zijin,” Jurot said, though he wasn’t sure about what the process was.

“Alright.” Adam stood, taking a moment to gather himself, feeling a little light headed. He stepped out from the estate, and made his way to the Elder’s estate, which bordered the eight estates around it.

Elder Zijin was writing something in his book, but he looked up to Adam. “Adam?”

“Hey, uh, Elder Zijin…”

“Yes?”

“I’d like to adopt the Goblin children as my own,” Adam said. “I mean, I was there, you know? I was the one to save them, so I shouldn’t just force them onto the Iyr.”

“Okay,” Elder Zijin said, taking out his book, before writing a note within it.

“How do I do that?”

“We will process it,” Zijin said. “I will send the word.”

“Okay,” Adam replied, awkwardly. He glanced around, wondering what he should do. “Cool. I… I’ll go enchant, I guess...”

Zijin watched Adam go, seeing how stiff the Half Elf had become. The Orcish Iyrman smiled, glad he was correct in his guess. ‘Do not squander what we have been given, Chief.’

The Elder wrote another note within Adam’s black book.