Chapter 3-5

Llinos stopped, his tale told out. For a while, silence stretched out, as the young half-dragon thought over what he had just heard.

After a few moments, Llinos spoke again. “I apologize, child. You asked only for the tale of the creation, and I gave you much more than that.”

Almonihah shook his head. “It's fine. I liked it.”

He was thoughtfully silent for a little while longer, then asked, “So what are the Madlands, again?”

Llinos took a moment to gather his thoughts before responding. “As I said, they are where Jivenesh was cast down to Draezoln and bound. They reflect his madness, for all things there—animals, plants, even the land itself is twisted, warped, insane. Many rangers like Zrathanzon labor to make sure the horrors of the Madlands do not escape to ravage the civilized lands.”

“Oh.” Almonihah seemed like he didn't quite like that answer, but said no more.

They sat in silence for a little while longer, simply taking in the quiet murmuring of the water and the occasional movements of the animals. After a while, Almonihah started asking some more questions about Naishia. Llinos's explanation only brought more questions from the inquisitive young half-dragon, and they spent the rest of the evening talking.

The next two weeks passed quickly, as Almonihah learned from Llinos's wisdom. The young ranger-in-training hadn't realized quite how much there really was to know about all of the plants and animals of Draezoln, nor had he realized that there was so much to know about Naishia and the other gods of Draezoln. The more he learned, the more he realized he didn't know, and the more he knew he didn't know, the more he wanted to know more.

Almost exactly two weeks after he had left, Zrathanzon walked back into Llinos's valley, looking much as he had when he had left. His leather clothing was, perhaps, a little more worn than it had already been, but that seemed to be the only difference.

“Hello, Zrathanzon,” Almonihah greeted his mentor, cheerfully.

“Hey, Almonihah. Everything go well with Llinos?” The golden-scaled ranger replied.

Almonihah just nodded. Llinos greeted Zrathanzon as well, and then invited his two guests to sit down on one of the logs around the edge of the clearing where the druid lived. Zrathanzon and Llinos sat together, with Almonihah at the ranger's left. As they were getting settled, Zrathanzon leaned over to the elf and murmured something, to which Llinos responded equally quietly.

Almonihah edged a bit closer and realized they were speaking in a language unfamiliar to him. “What's that you're speaking?” he asked, his curiosity piqued.

Zrathanzon looked at his pupil with a bit of surprise. “Good ears, Almonihah. Didn't think you could hear well enough to know it wasn't the Common Tongue. We were speaking Elvish.”

“Oh,” Almonihah responded, thinking. Then he thought of another question. “Zrathanzon, why do you know Elvish?”

Zrathanzon chuckled a bit. “Because I'm half-elf, Almonihah.”

“Oh.” Almonihah's response was becoming quite familiar to the two adults.

While the young half-dragon processed that thought, Llinos made a little motion that Almonihah only caught out of the corner of his eye. Just as he was about to ask another question, Garekh leaped out of the underbrush and ran up enthusiastically to his friend.

“Looks like someone wants to play,” Zrathanzon said, grinning, with a bit of a sideways glance at Llinos.

Almonihah looked a bit rebellious until Garekh started licking him, bringing his laughter, after which he bounded off again, looking back to see if the little half-dragon was following. He was, and they charged off on one of their frequent games, leaving the two adults alone to their conversation.

The rest of the winter passed quickly, as Almonihah eagerly learned everything he could from his two teachers and his lupine friend. All too soon, the snows started melting, and Zrathanzon started to seem restless.

One fine, clear morning, Zrathanzon woke Almonihah a bit early. “I'm headed back out now,” he said, and then paused, as if uncertain how to continue. After a moment of indecision, he characteristically got straight to the point. “You can keep coming with me, of course, but if you want, Llinos said he'd be willing to let you stay with him.”

There was silence for a while. Almonihah thought back over the winter, how peaceful it was here, the things he had learned from the druid. Then he thought of Zrathanzon, and of traveling through the North Forest, and he realized that he had been getting restless, too. Eventually, Almonihah asked, “Would we still come back and visit Llinos every winter?”

Zrathanzon nodded. Almonihah said, “Then I'll stick with you.”

While they finished packing, Llinos and Garekh walked over. “I see you made your choice, child,” Llinos said quietly.

“I'll be back next winter!” Almonihah responded quickly.

Llinos smiled. “Of course. We will be expecting you.”

Almonihah walked up to Garekh. “You be good until next winter, and we can play again, okay?” he said. Garekh looked solemnly at the child, and Almonihah could almost swear that he nodded a little.

“Well, time to go, Almonihah,” said Zrathanzon. Then he said a little something in Elvish to Llinos, who responded in kind, and they parted.

“What did you say, Zrathanzon?” Almonihah asked as they walked out of the valley.

“Just goodbye in Elvish,” responded the ranger.

“Could you teach me Elvish?”

Zrathanzon chuckled. “There's only so many hours in a day, Almonihah. I can't teach you everything all at once.”

“But there's a lot of days, right?”

Zrathanzon outright laughed at his young companion's innocent reply. “I guess you're right, kid.”

***********

Well, I've been sitting on this one for way too long. I just arrived here at home last week, so I've been settling back in and spending time with my family.

So, we finally find out that Zrathanzon's non-dragon half is elven. Though you can tell Almonihah doesn't think that matters much. Certainly when he's older he has a tendency to lump all of the Races of Men together. Even dwarves. He usually doesn't lump orcs and aphani in with them, but sometimes I wonder...