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Description

    The young girl staggered through the icy blizzard. The wind kicked up snow around her, making any attempt to view the land around her almost impossible. Tears were frozen to her face as she continued onwards, just trying to get away. She clutched her left arm as the cruel, cold winds tore at her. And still the snow swirled ever on, easily covering the spots of red snow she left in her wake.
    The young dragon crashed to the ground. He whimpered as he struggled to withdraw his frozen wings. They were too numb, he could barely move them. He shouldn’t be out in this weather, he was too young. The wind was biting, tearing, leeching his strength away. The cold could kill him! Still, he had no choice. He had to brave the blizzard, or die for sure. He pushed onward, through the snow. He had to keep going. He had to! Despite his determination, the young dragon, little more than a hatchling, was blind to one thing: He left a trail of bloody snow.
    The girl shivered. It was too cold, she couldn’t stay out here. She needed to find somewhere to go. Anywhere! Almost as if some divine being had heard her silent plea, she noticed a mysterious mound in the otherwise flat landscape. A large hill. As she grew closer, she spotted something that almost made her start crying again, though this time in relief. A cave! She made a beeline for it. It didn’t matter if the cave was occupied or not, it was her only chance. Staggering in, she immediately went deeper, far enough to be away from the snow and wind. It was a little warmer, but not by much. She needed heat, now. But she had nothing to burn and neither of the two spells she knew, for she was a mage, could produce heat or a flame. She did the only thing she could. She curled up, shivering, and tried to cover as much of her skin as she could. Eventually, she was claimed by the unrelenting grip of sleep. She didn’t expect to wake up.
    The dragon collapsed. It was too much. The wind kept blowing, the snow swirling around him and beating at his face. He was too tired, too cold. Too weak. He just wanted to sleep. Slowly, his eyes began to close. Then, they shot open as he realized something. Everything should be white, yet he saw a little black… Yes! Right there! A mound in the snow with what looked to be a cave! The dragon pushed himself to his feet, leaving red snow where he had been. The cave, he could make it to the cave. Surely, he could muster the energy for that! The young dragon dragged himself along in a mixture of desperation and determination. He could make it. With a heave of great effort, he forced himself to cross the entrance to the cave. Just a little deeper. Out of the snow and wind. He could do it. And so he did, dragging himself along. Then he stopped. Lying there, in front of him, was a human.
    The dragon recoiled in panic, the rush of adrenaline momentarily banishing the cold. It was a human! A human! What should he do? What if it attacked? Should he leave? Should he stay? While all these questions and more coursed through his head, he realized something. The human wasn’t moving. Was it dead? He cautiously approached and nudged it with his nose. It was cold. There was a faint, residual mediocrum of what may have been heat, but the body was cold. The dragon decided that the human was dead… But that heat. Had he imagined it? If not, then maybe… The young dragon decided to act. He needed the heat and he felt far too weak to attempt breathing fire. Not that it would have helped, as he had yet to successfully do so. So, he dragged himself next the human and curl around it. With difficulty, he also managed to get a wing extended over the body. He hoped that he could coax some of the heat out. That was how heat worked, right? He didn’t know, but he had to try something. He was a dragon, albeit a young one, yet he was shivering. Shivering! After a little while, it seemed to be working. The human seemed to be getting a little warmer. The dragon allowed himself to drift off, hoping what little heat was left in the human would last. He didn’t notice the girl’s shivers.
    Come dawn the next day, the blizzard had died down. Now, it was little more than a persistent breeze. The human woke slowly, her first thought being to wonder if this was what death was like. But that quickly changed as she realized that she wasn’t alone. Something was all around her. Curious and scared, she manage to extract herself from whatever it was. And promptly shrieked in fear as she scrambled away. The thing was a dragon!
    The dragon snapped awake at a high pitched sound. He shook his head. What was that? His question was immediately answered when he realized that the human’s body was no longer where it had been. In fact, it was putting as much space between it and him as it could. It was alive! He began to panic and back away as well, soon bumping into the wall. The human imitated him with the far wall.
    For several long moments, they stared at each other. Each panicking and trying to figure out what to do. The dragon took a step forward, then winced as the human curled up into a ball and gave an ear piercing shriek again. How did a human make a noise capable of tearing apart his ears like that? Despite his discomfort, he was able to realize something: The human was afraid of him. Very much so, given that it was curled on the floor making nonsensical sounds.
    “No dragons, no dragons. Let it go away, let it leave. Don’t hurt me! Leave me alone,” her panicked rambling became louder, faster, and higher pitched when the dragon started towards her. He stopped just before the pitch became too high. And then he just stood there. He’d come to the realization that the human was as afraid of him as he was of it… her, rather. If that was true, then she wouldn’t hurt him if he didn’t get too close. But it was a human…
    Slowly, the girl’s panic began to subside as she realized that the dragon was not moving. It was just watching her. And, now that she looked at it, it was rather small. Trembling, she asked, “W-What are you w-waiting for?”
    The dragon cocked his head. There she was, making those strange sounds again. Only this time, they had a… rhythm… a substance to them. He assumed she was trying to talk to him. It was too bad that he understood nothing of her gibberish sounds. For all he knew, she was cursing him with death threats. Aaaand he was afraid of what the human might do now.
    However, his continued hesitation did have the desired effect. The human began to calm down a little, “Are… Are you not going to hurt me?” when the dragon gave no response, she murmured, “Do… Do you understand me? Nod if you do.” the dragon quite distinctly did not nod, not at all understanding the human’s tongue. She continued to watch him, apprehensive. After all, this was a dragon and she… she…
    At the moment, she had finally calmed down enough to notice something. Her arm was still bleeding. It wasn’t much- most of the blood had congealed- but it was still bleeding. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. She dug at her belt and eventually extracted a small book. If you could call two pages with leather covers a book. Either way, one page detailed information on how to cast a light spell, the most basic of spells. The other was a healing spell. She looked it over, just to be sure, then began to intone the spell. The dragon, it would seem, didn’t like that.
    The dragon, who had watched the human pull out the strange rectangular object, panicked and fled to the other end of the cave when the human started chanting. He had no idea what she was saying, but he did know what chanting was. It meant magic. He watched, muscles tense as he prepared to react to whatever spell she used. He flinched as she pressed a hand to her arm. She grimaced and began wiping her arm. What was she doing?
    The spell hadn’t worked. There was too much blood gummed up around the wound. She had to get some of it off. She began wiping and picking, trying to get it off. And, yet, no matter how much she removed, there always seemed to be more. She began to worry that she’d never get it all off. And she wanted it all off. If it messed with the spell, then she was having none of it.
    The dragon watched. She had stopped casting spells and was messing around with a large slash on her upper left arm. Had she been… trying to heal it? Could she… maybe do the same for him? He had a rather large slash on his right side. It hurt and… wait, but this was a human! What was he thinking!? But… maybe…
    The girl was so focused on trying to clean her wound, she didn’t notice the dragon approach. Not until he was right next to her, peering at her arm. When she did notice, however, the dragon knew it. She gave a cry of surprise, and tried to scoot back, only for her to be reminded that there was a cave wall there. Panicked as she was, she was able to remain somewhat composed. She stared at the dragon, which slowly moved closer… and began to lick her arm. To be precise, he was licking the wound on her arm, removing the congealed blood with surprising ease. She held still, eyes wide, worried that the dragon was going to do something, but there was nothing she could really do about it. After a few moments, the dragon backed off and she was able to give the slash a quick glance. It was… clean. The dragon had cleaned it. She looked back at the dragon to see him licking his own injury, which was easy to see, given that he had white scales.. Keeping an eye on the dragon, the young girl began chanting again.
    The dragon’s head shot up as he heard the chanting. Was she going to attack? No… No, she was doing that spell from before. He watched as she pressed her hand against her injury, then seemed to relax as the spell began to do its work. After about a minute or so, she removed her hand. Aside from the blood from before and a faint, silvery line, there was no trace that she had ever been injured. The dragon returned his attention to his side. After a few more licks, he turned and displayed the clean wound to the human, lifting a wing to make it easier to see. Hopefully, she’d understand what he wanted.
    The human smiled as she traced the new scar. She was okay. If she could figure out how to deal with the cold, she’d be alright. It was then that the dragon turned. She looked back to it, fear momentarily flaring in her mind before she more-or-less stamped it down. Her father… Her father had always said that she was clever and willful, it was time to be that way! The dragon was showing her his injury and had even lifted his wing. She quickly guessed that the dragon wanted her to heal it. It had cleaned her wound… Slowly, she crept closer and began to cast the spell again. The dragon flinched, but held his position as she pressed a hand against the wound. The dragon, much like she had moments ago, began to relax as the wound repaired itself under her hand, aided by her magic.
    That felt… wonderful. The dragon originally had no idea that magic could heal, but he was glad. It felt great and took away the pain. It was wonderful… When she had finished, there was no trace of the spear wound. It was as amazing as it was wonderful. Why was he afraid of this little female human? She was a lot nicer than he had thought she would be… But… what if she was tricking him? After all… it had been humans… He stopped himself from following the thought. Maybe he had been wrong. After all, he’d never really met a human. Maybe they were nicer than they seemed.
    The girl recoiled after the spell had finished, but the dragon didn’t attack her. It seemed genuinely interested in not harming her. In fact, he seemed rather nice. But he obviously couldn’t understand her. And she had a feeling she would need his help. So, she decided to teach him to understand her. She placed a hand against her her chest and said, “Arhen.”
    The dragon cocked his head. The girl was doing something now. She was pressing her hand against her chest and making her gibberish sounds. As he listened and watched, he noticed that she was make the same sounds every time. Was she trying to show him something? Or maybe… Yes, she kept making those sounds as she pressed her hand to her chest. Was she saying her name? Did humans do that? Intending on finding out, he pointed his tail at her and tried to imitate the sounds she made.
    “Aaaarrrrrrrrrrnnnnn,” the dragon said in a long, drawn out mixture of what sounded like a rasp and snarl. Though the girl had no idea, this was typical of young dragons. Either way, the girl started in surprised. She hadn’t been expecting a response. However, that was a good thing. If he could make anything that sounded like words, she could eventually be able to talk to the dragon! That would help a lot. With that in mind, she repeated the gesture, saying, “Ar. HEN,” taking care to emphasize the the part he’d missed.
    The dragon cocked his head. She was making the same gesture, but slightly changing the sounds. He listened and realized something. She was teaching him how to make the sounds right! He considered what she said, then tried for himself, “Aaarrrrrrrrr hhhhhheeeeeeennnn,” the girl nodded in response and repeated the gesture and sounds. The dragon notice that she was saying it a lot quicker than he was.
    “Aaaarrrhhheeennn,” the dragon tried again. It was a lot quicker this time and a lot more understandable. It was raspy, but that’s really all it was. She smiled and nodded. The dragon was getting it! Before she could say anything else, she was surprised when the dragon pointed at himself with his tail and said, “Keeerrrrrrrrrvvvvveeeerrrrrrrnnnn.”
    The dragon waited, hoping she understood. She certainly seemed like she did as she pointed at him and said, “Kervern,” the dragon bobbed his head. She understood! He then pointed at her and said, “Aaarrrhhheenn.”
    Arhen smiled. Things were looking up.

“Arrrhhhenn,” Kervern called as Arhen busied herself with one of her books.
    “Yes?”
    “Mighhht I asssk you a quessstionnn?”
    “You just did, but go ahead.”
    “You’vvve nnnevvverrr talked about your fffamily. I meannn… I’ve nnnevvverrr talked about minnne… But I wasss wonnnderrring. We’vvve beennn herrre for sssevvverrral weeks nnnow. Wouldnnn’t they be worrrrried about you?”
    “... They aren’t around to be worried…”
    Kervern lowered his head, “Same with me. My fffamily was murrrderrred by drrragonnnssslayerrrsss. I watched them all die before I rrrannn away. I do havvve a fffew olderrr sssiblingsss whhho hhhad alrrready leffft. Rrresssarrri. Fffemannniusss. Hhhekerrrisss. But I do nnnot knnnow whhherrre they arrre.”
    Arhen nodded, “My family was killed by dragons. I… don’t know where their bodies lie.”
    “You didnnn’t sssee them die?”
    “No.”
    “Thennn we could fffinnnd them! They mighhht ssstill be alivvve!”
    “And the might not be. I… I don’t want to risk bad memories, Kervern.”
    Kervern nodded, then asked, “Whhhat ifff I looked ffforrr them? Ifff I fffinnnd them, you cannn sssee ffforrr yourrrssselfff. Ifff nnnot, thennn you’ll at leassst knnnow.”
    “I guess. Alright,” Arhen acquiesced, “Go on. If they aren’t still in my village, they went south to my father’s manor.
    “You’ll nnnevvverrr nnnoticcce that I leffft!” he proclaimed before making his way out of the tundra-bound cave they’d been living in since they met.
    Arhen chuckled and called out, “I noticed!” she got a laugh in return.

    Several days later, Kervern returned. Arhen noticed this as she worked. She was trying to make a spell that would make hunting easier. She mostly disregarded his arrival because she knew that he knew that she had noticed his return. Whatever he had to say, he’d tell her when he was ready.
    Which was immediately, “Arrrhhhennn! I fffounnnd them! Sssouth! Mannnorrr! You mussst come!”
    “You did!? How many? Who?” she jumped to reply. She hadn’t believed that they’d survived, but it would seem that they had! She was estatic.
    “Fffourrr. Yourrr fffatherrr, motherrr, annnd yourrr brrrotherrrsss.”
    Arhen immediately began to gather her equipment. Most of it was makeshift, but she didn’t care. It was still useful, “Well, why are you still standing there? Let get going!”
    Kervern smiled and set about helping his friend. He may have lost his family, but she still had hers. Arhen looked happy, and that was good enough for him. And who knew? Maybe, if he was lucky, he might have just found a new family.

Description

    The young girl staggered through the icy blizzard. The wind kicked up snow around her, making any attempt to view the land around her almost impossible. Tears were frozen to her face as she continued onwards, just trying to get away. She clutched her left arm as the cruel, cold winds tore at her. And still the snow swirled ever on, easily covering the spots of red snow she left in her wake.
    The young dragon crashed to the ground. He whimpered as he struggled to withdraw his frozen wings. They were too numb, he could barely move them. He shouldn’t be out in this weather, he was too young. The wind was biting, tearing, leeching his strength away. The cold could kill him! Still, he had no choice. He had to brave the blizzard, or die for sure. He pushed onward, through the snow. He had to keep going. He had to! Despite his determination, the young dragon, little more than a hatchling, was blind to one thing: He left a trail of bloody snow.
    The girl shivered. It was too cold, she couldn’t stay out here. She needed to find somewhere to go. Anywhere! Almost as if some divine being had heard her silent plea, she noticed a mysterious mound in the otherwise flat landscape. A large hill. As she grew closer, she spotted something that almost made her start crying again, though this time in relief. A cave! She made a beeline for it. It didn’t matter if the cave was occupied or not, it was her only chance. Staggering in, she immediately went deeper, far enough to be away from the snow and wind. It was a little warmer, but not by much. She needed heat, now. But she had nothing to burn and neither of the two spells she knew, for she was a mage, could produce heat or a flame. She did the only thing she could. She curled up, shivering, and tried to cover as much of her skin as she could. Eventually, she was claimed by the unrelenting grip of sleep. She didn’t expect to wake up.
    The dragon collapsed. It was too much. The wind kept blowing, the snow swirling around him and beating at his face. He was too tired, too cold. Too weak. He just wanted to sleep. Slowly, his eyes began to close. Then, they shot open as he realized something. Everything should be white, yet he saw a little black… Yes! Right there! A mound in the snow with what looked to be a cave! The dragon pushed himself to his feet, leaving red snow where he had been. The cave, he could make it to the cave. Surely, he could muster the energy for that! The young dragon dragged himself along in a mixture of desperation and determination. He could make it. With a heave of great effort, he forced himself to cross the entrance to the cave. Just a little deeper. Out of the snow and wind. He could do it. And so he did, dragging himself along. Then he stopped. Lying there, in front of him, was a human.
    The dragon recoiled in panic, the rush of adrenaline momentarily banishing the cold. It was a human! A human! What should he do? What if it attacked? Should he leave? Should he stay? While all these questions and more coursed through his head, he realized something. The human wasn’t moving. Was it dead? He cautiously approached and nudged it with his nose. It was cold. There was a faint, residual mediocrum of what may have been heat, but the body was cold. The dragon decided that the human was dead… But that heat. Had he imagined it? If not, then maybe… The young dragon decided to act. He needed the heat and he felt far too weak to attempt breathing fire. Not that it would have helped, as he had yet to successfully do so. So, he dragged himself next the human and curl around it. With difficulty, he also managed to get a wing extended over the body. He hoped that he could coax some of the heat out. That was how heat worked, right? He didn’t know, but he had to try something. He was a dragon, albeit a young one, yet he was shivering. Shivering! After a little while, it seemed to be working. The human seemed to be getting a little warmer. The dragon allowed himself to drift off, hoping what little heat was left in the human would last. He didn’t notice the girl’s shivers.
    Come dawn the next day, the blizzard had died down. Now, it was little more than a persistent breeze. The human woke slowly, her first thought being to wonder if this was what death was like. But that quickly changed as she realized that she wasn’t alone. Something was all around her. Curious and scared, she manage to extract herself from whatever it was. And promptly shrieked in fear as she scrambled away. The thing was a dragon!
    The dragon snapped awake at a high pitched sound. He shook his head. What was that? His question was immediately answered when he realized that the human’s body was no longer where it had been. In fact, it was putting as much space between it and him as it could. It was alive! He began to panic and back away as well, soon bumping into the wall. The human imitated him with the far wall.
    For several long moments, they stared at each other. Each panicking and trying to figure out what to do. The dragon took a step forward, then winced as the human curled up into a ball and gave an ear piercing shriek again. How did a human make a noise capable of tearing apart his ears like that? Despite his discomfort, he was able to realize something: The human was afraid of him. Very much so, given that it was curled on the floor making nonsensical sounds.
    “No dragons, no dragons. Let it go away, let it leave. Don’t hurt me! Leave me alone,” her panicked rambling became louder, faster, and higher pitched when the dragon started towards her. He stopped just before the pitch became too high. And then he just stood there. He’d come to the realization that the human was as afraid of him as he was of it… her, rather. If that was true, then she wouldn’t hurt him if he didn’t get too close. But it was a human…
    Slowly, the girl’s panic began to subside as she realized that the dragon was not moving. It was just watching her. And, now that she looked at it, it was rather small. Trembling, she asked, “W-What are you w-waiting for?”
    The dragon cocked his head. There she was, making those strange sounds again. Only this time, they had a… rhythm… a substance to them. He assumed she was trying to talk to him. It was too bad that he understood nothing of her gibberish sounds. For all he knew, she was cursing him with death threats. Aaaand he was afraid of what the human might do now.
    However, his continued hesitation did have the desired effect. The human began to calm down a little, “Are… Are you not going to hurt me?” when the dragon gave no response, she murmured, “Do… Do you understand me? Nod if you do.” the dragon quite distinctly did not nod, not at all understanding the human’s tongue. She continued to watch him, apprehensive. After all, this was a dragon and she… she…
    At the moment, she had finally calmed down enough to notice something. Her arm was still bleeding. It wasn’t much- most of the blood had congealed- but it was still bleeding. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. She dug at her belt and eventually extracted a small book. If you could call two pages with leather covers a book. Either way, one page detailed information on how to cast a light spell, the most basic of spells. The other was a healing spell. She looked it over, just to be sure, then began to intone the spell. The dragon, it would seem, didn’t like that.
    The dragon, who had watched the human pull out the strange rectangular object, panicked and fled to the other end of the cave when the human started chanting. He had no idea what she was saying, but he did know what chanting was. It meant magic. He watched, muscles tense as he prepared to react to whatever spell she used. He flinched as she pressed a hand to her arm. She grimaced and began wiping her arm. What was she doing?
    The spell hadn’t worked. There was too much blood gummed up around the wound. She had to get some of it off. She began wiping and picking, trying to get it off. And, yet, no matter how much she removed, there always seemed to be more. She began to worry that she’d never get it all off. And she wanted it all off. If it messed with the spell, then she was having none of it.
    The dragon watched. She had stopped casting spells and was messing around with a large slash on her upper left arm. Had she been… trying to heal it? Could she… maybe do the same for him? He had a rather large slash on his right side. It hurt and… wait, but this was a human! What was he thinking!? But… maybe…
    The girl was so focused on trying to clean her wound, she didn’t notice the dragon approach. Not until he was right next to her, peering at her arm. When she did notice, however, the dragon knew it. She gave a cry of surprise, and tried to scoot back, only for her to be reminded that there was a cave wall there. Panicked as she was, she was able to remain somewhat composed. She stared at the dragon, which slowly moved closer… and began to lick her arm. To be precise, he was licking the wound on her arm, removing the congealed blood with surprising ease. She held still, eyes wide, worried that the dragon was going to do something, but there was nothing she could really do about it. After a few moments, the dragon backed off and she was able to give the slash a quick glance. It was… clean. The dragon had cleaned it. She looked back at the dragon to see him licking his own injury, which was easy to see, given that he had white scales.. Keeping an eye on the dragon, the young girl began chanting again.
    The dragon’s head shot up as he heard the chanting. Was she going to attack? No… No, she was doing that spell from before. He watched as she pressed her hand against her injury, then seemed to relax as the spell began to do its work. After about a minute or so, she removed her hand. Aside from the blood from before and a faint, silvery line, there was no trace that she had ever been injured. The dragon returned his attention to his side. After a few more licks, he turned and displayed the clean wound to the human, lifting a wing to make it easier to see. Hopefully, she’d understand what he wanted.
    The human smiled as she traced the new scar. She was okay. If she could figure out how to deal with the cold, she’d be alright. It was then that the dragon turned. She looked back to it, fear momentarily flaring in her mind before she more-or-less stamped it down. Her father… Her father had always said that she was clever and willful, it was time to be that way! The dragon was showing her his injury and had even lifted his wing. She quickly guessed that the dragon wanted her to heal it. It had cleaned her wound… Slowly, she crept closer and began to cast the spell again. The dragon flinched, but held his position as she pressed a hand against the wound. The dragon, much like she had moments ago, began to relax as the wound repaired itself under her hand, aided by her magic.
    That felt… wonderful. The dragon originally had no idea that magic could heal, but he was glad. It felt great and took away the pain. It was wonderful… When she had finished, there was no trace of the spear wound. It was as amazing as it was wonderful. Why was he afraid of this little female human? She was a lot nicer than he had thought she would be… But… what if she was tricking him? After all… it had been humans… He stopped himself from following the thought. Maybe he had been wrong. After all, he’d never really met a human. Maybe they were nicer than they seemed.
    The girl recoiled after the spell had finished, but the dragon didn’t attack her. It seemed genuinely interested in not harming her. In fact, he seemed rather nice. But he obviously couldn’t understand her. And she had a feeling she would need his help. So, she decided to teach him to understand her. She placed a hand against her her chest and said, “Arhen.”
    The dragon cocked his head. The girl was doing something now. She was pressing her hand against her chest and making her gibberish sounds. As he listened and watched, he noticed that she was make the same sounds every time. Was she trying to show him something? Or maybe… Yes, she kept making those sounds as she pressed her hand to her chest. Was she saying her name? Did humans do that? Intending on finding out, he pointed his tail at her and tried to imitate the sounds she made.
    “Aaaarrrrrrrrrrnnnnn,” the dragon said in a long, drawn out mixture of what sounded like a rasp and snarl. Though the girl had no idea, this was typical of young dragons. Either way, the girl started in surprised. She hadn’t been expecting a response. However, that was a good thing. If he could make anything that sounded like words, she could eventually be able to talk to the dragon! That would help a lot. With that in mind, she repeated the gesture, saying, “Ar. HEN,” taking care to emphasize the the part he’d missed.
    The dragon cocked his head. She was making the same gesture, but slightly changing the sounds. He listened and realized something. She was teaching him how to make the sounds right! He considered what she said, then tried for himself, “Aaarrrrrrrrr hhhhhheeeeeeennnn,” the girl nodded in response and repeated the gesture and sounds. The dragon notice that she was saying it a lot quicker than he was.
    “Aaaarrrhhheeennn,” the dragon tried again. It was a lot quicker this time and a lot more understandable. It was raspy, but that’s really all it was. She smiled and nodded. The dragon was getting it! Before she could say anything else, she was surprised when the dragon pointed at himself with his tail and said, “Keeerrrrrrrrrvvvvveeeerrrrrrrnnnn.”
    The dragon waited, hoping she understood. She certainly seemed like she did as she pointed at him and said, “Kervern,” the dragon bobbed his head. She understood! He then pointed at her and said, “Aaarrrhhheenn.”
    Arhen smiled. Things were looking up.

“Arrrhhhenn,” Kervern called as Arhen busied herself with one of her books.
    “Yes?”
    “Mighhht I asssk you a quessstionnn?”
    “You just did, but go ahead.”
    “You’vvve nnnevvverrr talked about your fffamily. I meannn… I’ve nnnevvverrr talked about minnne… But I wasss wonnnderrring. We’vvve beennn herrre for sssevvverrral weeks nnnow. Wouldnnn’t they be worrrrried about you?”
    “... They aren’t around to be worried…”
    Kervern lowered his head, “Same with me. My fffamily was murrrderrred by drrragonnnssslayerrrsss. I watched them all die before I rrrannn away. I do havvve a fffew olderrr sssiblingsss whhho hhhad alrrready leffft. Rrresssarrri. Fffemannniusss. Hhhekerrrisss. But I do nnnot knnnow whhherrre they arrre.”
    Arhen nodded, “My family was killed by dragons. I… don’t know where their bodies lie.”
    “You didnnn’t sssee them die?”
    “No.”
    “Thennn we could fffinnnd them! They mighhht ssstill be alivvve!”
    “And the might not be. I… I don’t want to risk bad memories, Kervern.”
    Kervern nodded, then asked, “Whhhat ifff I looked ffforrr them? Ifff I fffinnnd them, you cannn sssee ffforrr yourrrssselfff. Ifff nnnot, thennn you’ll at leassst knnnow.”
    “I guess. Alright,” Arhen acquiesced, “Go on. If they aren’t still in my village, they went south to my father’s manor.
    “You’ll nnnevvverrr nnnoticcce that I leffft!” he proclaimed before making his way out of the tundra-bound cave they’d been living in since they met.
    Arhen chuckled and called out, “I noticed!” she got a laugh in return.

    Several days later, Kervern returned. Arhen noticed this as she worked. She was trying to make a spell that would make hunting easier. She mostly disregarded his arrival because she knew that he knew that she had noticed his return. Whatever he had to say, he’d tell her when he was ready.
    Which was immediately, “Arrrhhhennn! I fffounnnd them! Sssouth! Mannnorrr! You mussst come!”
    “You did!? How many? Who?” she jumped to reply. She hadn’t believed that they’d survived, but it would seem that they had! She was estatic.
    “Fffourrr. Yourrr fffatherrr, motherrr, annnd yourrr brrrotherrrsss.”
    Arhen immediately began to gather her equipment. Most of it was makeshift, but she didn’t care. It was still useful, “Well, why are you still standing there? Let get going!”
    Kervern smiled and set about helping his friend. He may have lost his family, but she still had hers. Arhen looked happy, and that was good enough for him. And who knew? Maybe, if he was lucky, he might have just found a new family.