Chapter 3-1

Chapter 3: Winter

Almonihah awoke that morning feeling better than he had for a long time. It seemed that whatever peaceful influence reigned here had sunk into him over the night, leaving him relaxed and calm, yet still awake and alert.

He also awoke to find that there was a wolf staring him in the face.

Normally, this would have caused Almonihah quite a bit of alarm, but today, it just brought a laugh as the wolf licked him friendlily. His laugh brought a pair of laughs from in front of the tent.

“I guess you're awake now, Almonihah,” he heard Zrathanzon call out.

The wolf stopped licking Almonihah, and he caught his breath long enough to yell back, “Yeah.”

There was a whistle from outside of the tent. The wolf looked up abruptly, then bounded outside, leaving Almonihah room to get up.

“Once you're ready, I'll introduce you to Llinos,” his mentor called out, his voice sounding a little farther away.

Almonihah prepared quickly, putting on his warm clothing, gathering his dagger, pack, and the little bow and quiver of arrows Zrathanzon had made for him, then exited the tent. It had snowed again overnight, leaving a fresh blanket of white over the valley. Zrathanzon was engaged in restarting their fire while conversing with a man sitting on a log near the fire ring, who Almonihah supposed was probably Llinos.

As Almonihah approached, the man stood up, and Almonihah could get a good look at him. He was of moderate height, shorter than Zrathanzon, and of slighter build. He wore a simple brown robe and held a staff that looked much like a large tree limb that had simply been picked up from off of the ground. As Almonihah got closer, he could see that Llinos had a carving of a tree, much like the symbol on the tree they had passed on their way into this valley, tied to a leather strip around his neck like some kind of necklace. He also noticed that Llinos had somewhat pointed ears.

“Almonihah, this is Llinos, my friend I've been telling you about. And Llinos, this is Almonihah,” Zrathanzon said once his pupil neared the fire.

Llinos, nodded, his blue eyes meeting Almonihah's green ones. “Welcome to my valley, little one. Did you rest well?”

Almonihah nodded. “Yeah. It's... nice here.”

Llinos smiled. “Thank you, young one. I try to make this valley a place of peace and respite.”

Just then, a familiar lupine head stuck up over the log that Llinos had been sitting on. The rest of a wolf soon followed it, as he trotted over to Llinos's side.

“And I believe you have already meet my friend,” Llinos continued, his smile growing perhaps a bit wider.

Zrathanzon laughed as Almonihah nodded. “It sounded like he likes you,” the Ranger chuckled.

“I think so,” Almonihah responded with a shy grin.

“He is a pretty friendly fellow,” Llinos said, as he scratched behind the wolf's ears.

Almonihah asked, “What's his name?”

Llinos shrugged. “He does not have one. What need have wolves of names?”

Almonihah thought for a second, then shrugged as well. “I dunno...” he said uncertainly, “Just... kinda seems like he should have one.” He paused for a moment more before hesitantly asking, “Could I come up with a name for him?”

Llinos looked down at the wolf. “What do you think about that?”

The wolf looked back at the druid, his tail wagging. After a moment, Llinos turned back to Almonihah and inquired, “Have you a name in mind?”

“Oh... uh... how about... um... Garekh?”

Zrathanzon laughed. “Naming him after his fur color?” Llinos cast an inquiring gaze at the ranger, so he explained, “Garekh means “gray” in Draconic.”

“Ah. An appropriate name, I suppose. Is it acceptable to you?” Llinos turned back to the wolf, who simply kept wagging his tail as he looked back. “Very well,” Llinos said, “He shall be named Garekh.”

“Now that that's settled,” Zrathanzon said, standing up, “I think it's time Almonihah helped me with cooking breakfast.”

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Chapter 3! Huzzah!

So, a lot of dialogue for a fairly short post. And we got to meet Llinos and Garekh. I've always wondered where it is that A.Z. got his kinship for wolves from, and I have a feeling this is part of the answer.

I italicized Garekh when Zrathanzon and Almonihah said it to indicate that they pronounced it differently (correctly, I should say) than Llinos, given that they both speak Draconic and Llinos doesn't. I realize that just italicizing doesn't really get that across very well, but... I didn't feel like it was worthwhile to interrupt the flow of the tale with such a minor detail.

Chapter 2-5

They hiked upwards, following the creek as it meandered between hills on its way down from the mountains. As they drew closer, Almonihah could see that they were headed towards a broad-mouthed canyon between two of the closer mountains. As they walked, Almonihah noticed a funny mark on one of the trees near the creek. It looked kind of like someone had lightly etched a rough likeness of a tree into the bark.

“What's that mean, Zrathanzon?” Almonihah asked, pointing at the mark.

Zrathanzon looked at where Almonihah was pointing, his expression a bit puzzled at first. After studying it for a bit, he smiled a bit and said, “Good eyes, Almonihah. I don't know how many times I've walked past this tree and not noticed that there. That is one of the many symbols used to refer to Naishia. No doubt Llinos was the one who placed it there.”

“Llinos?”

“That's the name of my friend who lives here,” Zrathanzon replied to Almonihah's question with a bit of a grin.

“Oh.” Almonihah realized that he probably should have known that.

They continued on, following the creek. Almonihah got a funny feeling as they passed the marked tree. It took him a little bit to put his finger on what kind of a feeling it was, but it seemed like the best description for it was a feeling of peace.

As the last light of dusk was disappearing, they came to a fire ring, much like the fire rings at the other campsites Zrathanzon had apparently set up all throughout the North Forest. They quickly set up camp for the night.

“Llinos should find us in the morning,” Zrathanzon told his student as he prepared to lay down.

Almonihah only nodded in response as he went to his bedroll, as well. He was quite surprised to find that he fell asleep quickly—or rather, he would have been, if he had been awake long enough to appreciate it. His dreams that night were peaceful and pleasant.

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Well, this is the end of chapter 2. Next time, we all get to meet Llinos! (What is it about Welsh names and sounding all fantasy-ish...)

Chapter 2-4

Zrathanzon healed quickly, and it was not long before they were traveling again. Within the space of a couple weeks they reached the foothills of the mountains. Almonihah was amazed by how big they actually were, now that they had reached them. They seemed tall enough to touch the sky, and it seemed something in him wanted to reach up and touch it with them.

“Are we going up to the top of one of those?” Almonihah asked his mentor, pointing to the tallest peak he could see.

Zrathanzon chuckled, then answered, “Maybe someday, Almonihah. You've got quite a ways to go before you're really up for climbing that high, though.”

Almonihah was silent, but disappointment was clear on his face. This brought another laugh from Zrathanzon, which was only intensified when Almonihah frowned back in response.

They made good time, traveling further into the night to reach a campsite Zrathanzon knew of nearby. They managed to reach it not long after the sun had gone down. They quickly made camp, and then went to bed.

And that night, Almonihah dreamed.

It was not a dream like he'd ever had before, however. It was no thing of confused shadows mixed with painful memories, but rather crisp, vivid, almost as if he was living it rather than dreaming it. He was just stepping out of a cave on a mountain much like the one he had been wanting to climb, stretching his wings, looking forward to the morning's flight. After testing the wind for a moment, he bounded forward, leaped off the cliff, spread his wings, and flew.

He glided out over the forest, his keen eyes searching for prey. Soon, he saw a herd of deer in a meadow, peacefully grazing. He flew over towards the clearing, making certain that his huge shadow didn't warn them of his approach.

Just as he was getting ready to dive, a voice startled him, telling him to wake up. That seemed kind of silly—after all, he wasn't asleep, he was hunting. It called again, and this time he did wake up to see Zrathanzon standing over him, telling him to wake up for his morning drills.

Almonihah got up rather more slowly than usual, the sensations of flight still fresh in his mind. He couldn't recall ever having such a vivid dream, nor one that so involved all of his senses. It seemed almost like a fresh memory. His introspection continued throughout breakfast and into his morning drills.

After observing his young companion for a little while, Zrathanzon asked, “You all right, Almonihah?”

Almonihah nodded in response, then added a “Yeah.”

Zrathanzon looked closely at his young companion, clearly not convinced. After a moment, then, he said, “All right, then, you must not have any excuses for why you were so much sloppier than usual on that last drill, hm?”

“Oh,” Almonihah responded, his little head-fin drooping a bit in shame, “...yeah, I don't”

“Let's see you do it again then, and show me that you've actually learned something this time,” Zrathanzon said sternly.

Almonihah did focus better on his lessons that morning, but his dream remained with him throughout the day as they headed closer and closer to the mountains. Something about the mountains seemed to call to him, awakening a longing in him to climb to the top of one of them, step off, and fly over the forest below.

“They're really something, aren't they?” Zrathanzon broke into Almonihah's thoughts.

“Huh?” Almonihah, distracted again, was caught off guard by the ranger's question.

Zrathanzon nodded his head in the direction of the nearby peaks and clarified, “The mountains. They really make you realize how big the world really is, don't they?”

“Yeah...” Almonihah's tone was still a bit distracted, and his gaze never strayed from the snowy peaks in front of him.

Zrathanzon looked up at the mountains, too, and his voice grew softer as he spoke again. “They kind of call out to you... like the dragon part of you remembers living in some lair in a mountain like one of these...” Zrathanzon's voiced trailed off, then he seemed to shake himself out of his reverie and said, “At least, that's how it seems for me. Not sure if it works the same way for you.”

“Yeah, it...” Almonihah hesitated for a moment, thinking on his dream and whether or not he should tell his mentor about it, then finished by saying simply, “It does.”

“Well, I guess we'd better get used to it. We'll probably be staying around here for a good bit of the winter,” the ranger said, his tone more normal.

Remembering where they were going, Almonihah asked, “So when are we going to meet your friend?”

Zrathanzon pointed up the little creek they had been following for the past few minutes. “You see how this goes up into the mountains? He lives up there, but he tends to move around a bit up and down this creek. We may meet him today, and if not, he'll see our campfire and meet us in the morning.”

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Well, sorry it's been so long, but, well, homework happens. This post has been written in two or three brief sessions whenever I could find the time to write (and didn't play a video game instead...), so hopefully it all flows. I think it does, but I haven't gone back through and revised it very much.

I was realizing I hadn't mentioned Almonihah's head-fin/frill/whatever you want to call it very much. In time to come, it's actually more expressive of his emotions than his face at times. If you can't really picture what it looks like... here's a picture of a D&D bronze dragon. You see that frill thing that goes down its neck? For some reason, Almonihah has a frill like that on his head. Why? How am I to know how shapeshifting magic messes with inheritance?

This next little bit is actually something I hadn't known about Almonihah's past at all before. Looking back, I should have known there was something like this, but... well, Almonihah's not exactly the kind of guy whose past you pry into. Especially not when you have to live with him in your head every day.