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Chapter 14: Vision
Having a goal in mind made the time pass swiftly. Indeed, it seemed the winter snows came and went in the blink of an eye, until Almonihah found himself standing at the edge of the village, saying farewell to the Griffon Tribe. Because he did not expect to return, the Ranger made gifts to the villagers of his equipment. His longsword he entrusted to Griffon Heart, who accepted it solemnly and voiced his thanks. His other things he distributed to the rest of the tribe as he would.
At last, he came to Owl Talon. All Almonihah had left was a small bag. He handed it to the old Plainsman and said, gruffly, “Here. Figure you can do something with 't.”
Glancing in it, the shaman could see that it contained a variety of dried herbs. With a gentle nod and a smile, he said, “I believe I can, young dragon.” Closing the bag and straightening, he continued, speaking this time to be heard by all, “And now I have a gift for you, young Almonihah Zrathanzon. As you will likely not return to us at the end of your quest, I would give you your name now.”
“The name I give to you, and the name you shall be known by among all the Tribe of the Griffon, is Thunder Heart.”
The unusual declaration, as well as the unusual name, caused a bit of whispered conversation among the assembled tribespeople. Almonihah, however, simply murmured, “Thunder Heart,” to himself, thinking it over.
“And there is one last thing I would say to you,” Owl Talon said, more quietly. He took the half-dragon aside, far enough that no one else could hear, then said, “There are many reasons for your name, but I would have you think on this.”
“Two wolves dwell in you. One hunts eternally for the thrill of the kill. The other hunts only to eat, and fights only to protect.” The old shaman paused for a moment, leaning forward slightly and reaching up to place his hand on Almonihah's shoulder. “Have a care which one you feed, young dragon.”
After another moment of silence, Owl Talon returned to the watching Plainsmen. Almonihah looked back at them, nodded in farewell, and then turned North, walking off with only Zithrandrak to accompany him.
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Yeah, I stole the whole "two wolves" thing from a Church News. So what. At least I gave it credit. In seriousness, though, it was just one of those times when I read something and said, "That fits Almonihah perfectly". So it ended up in his history.
Other than that, now we get to Almonihah's Vision Quest. Expect the next couple sections to involve... unusual events. Of course, this is Draezoln, so it's only unusual to us.
