Singer Sailor Merchant Mage

Chapter 252: Forgive and forget

“After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”

Oscar Wilde

“That will not be a problem.” Jarl Njord answered, waving away any worry, unaware of exactly what I suspected to be true. “Dragonlings are rare indeed in the north, and most likely, it has simply found somewhere warm to shelter from the cold. It will not take long for you to find the beast at all. Once I make an announcement, I’m sure it will be found by the end of the day.” He promised, probably happy, that the return request for the two gilded statues he had received was so simple compared to their worth.

“That will not be necessary,” Fru Ingar confessed, interrupting him. “I apologise, husband, Lord Silversea.” She turned to both of us in turn. “But . . . Nyx was it? Is only just next door.” She explained.

“Next door?” Jarl Njord asked, clearly confused by his wife’s confession. I waited eagerly to hear her reasoning.

“She was to be a gift.” She explained apologetically. Namir and I let the drama play out without interrupting. I was not keen to intrude if we could Nyx return without any complications.

“A gift?” he demanded, a little cross at unwittingly being put in this awkward situation by his wife’s actions. “How and for whom?” he quizzed, doing significantly better at getting to the bottom of this than we would have been able to do.

“Yes, the dragonling was discovered in the market earlier this morning. Remarkably, she seemed comfortable in the cold, and without a collar or any obvious owner in sight, she was brought to me. I was going to present her as a surprise gift to Njordson.” She explained her actions to her husband before hurriedly apologising to me once more. “The theft was completely unintentional, and we will be happy to return your companion.” She continued to Njordson’s disappointment. It was difficult to be told that you were gaining something and then, in the next sentence, hear that you were losing it.

Namir and I hesitated to intervene as it looked like we might just be getting Nyx without a fight after all.

“How do we even know that Nyx is theirs?” he argued weakly.

“Maybe he had already known what it was he would be getting for his birthday. I doubted the successful capture of Nyx had gone down without any witnesses. Furthermore, in a town this small, the rumour mill was probably running full tilt with our arrival and the arrival of a small beastie. I was almost a little surprised we had not had a visit by the guards questioning our import of a dangerous beast into the town. But it looked like they were letting the nobles hash out this complication without having to get themselves involved. I was not sure whether this represented their wisdom or their cowardice.

“Fru Ingar, return their pet,” Jarl Njord commanded.

It only took a little ringing of the bell, and minutes later, two hulking servants were carrying in a large wrought iron cage, the cage clearly weighting far more than Nyx, who was curled up inside it.

“She has not been mistreated at all.” Ingar insisted. “She is simply tired and digesting her meal. I must admit I am amazed at how much meat a beast of her size can put away.” She explained the reason behind Nyx’s stupor.

But I was not going to wait for her to wake up to reassure myself of her status, so I gave her a short whistle to wake up. Slowly stirring, her eye lazily opened to survey her situation, and upon noticing my presence, her other eye snapped open. Stretching, she pressed against the bars and then, in a move that shocked us all, plinked into existence on the other side of the bars. To a shocked gasp of surprise from all the humans watching, she leapt to the top of the table and sauntered across it before sitting down in my lap.

“Remarkable.” Jarl Njord whispered. His embarrassment at the situation his wife had put him into disappeared in his sudden interest in the beast now sitting in my lap. Fru Ingar was likewise equally shocked, but this had left her speechless. Their children refrained from comment, but I could see Njordsons’ envious eyes watching with disappointment that he would not receive the said gift that had curled up in my lap to go to sleep. With my senses, I heard Namir’s whispered comment: “Well, that would explain it.”

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It would appear that Nyx, in accompanying me to Drangavik and back under the guidance of Lady Fortuna, had returned with more than a couple of instantaneous teleportation miles. No. Somehow, she had returned with the ability to teleport just like her master. I had not given a moment's thought to the spatial vault that had accompanied me on my trip along with my clothes; otherwise, I would have arrived and or returned naked to the Church of the Lodestar.

She seemed to have not taken any time to start testing her new skill and had obviously teleported out of my spatial vault as we returned home through the town. The most impressive part of this was to escape was to do so without us noticing. However, I had to admit that I had been a little lost in self-introspection on my return to the tavern.

I would have to be careful. At this rate, the beast would have as many skills as me. She was gobbling them all up at an alarming rate. It was also fascinating to see what I might soon be capable of. She had transported less than a foot to escape the bars, so perhaps that was the limit for one skill level. Hopefully, I will be able to push it further with practice.

I stroked the warm scales under my fingers as I witnessed the ice forming on my trousers where she lay down. It had taken me a while to get my ice aura under control. But the ability, along with my resistance to it, meant that it was not uncomfortable but rather confusing to the senses to feel something warm that was giving off cold—a weird combination of two opposites felt simultaneously.

“The cold doesn’t bother you.” Fru Ingar noted the ice melting from the cage's bars now that it was no longer being magically produced and maintained by the beast it once contained.

“We spent some time living with the giants of Tramontana, adapting to the cold. It no longer overly bothers us.” Namir answered for the pair of us as I continued to pet Nyx. She was either exhausted by her excursion or playing it up, hoping I would not scold her for her escape.

“Well, I think that the beast's immediate beeline to Lord Silversea ‘s lap removes any doubts about his ownership of the beast.” Jarl Njord pointed out Njordson’s disappointment. But it had been a weak argument to start off with, and I doubted he truly believed it himself. But was simply unwilling to part with such an animal without at least a token attempt to retain it for himself.

“I hope you will forgive the unknowing capture of your companion. But without a collar or an owner in sight, I’m sure you can understand the accident.” Fru Ingar redirected the blame for the incident to the accident of inappropriately controlled beasts.

“She comes and goes as she pleases, but I will endeavour to keep a closer eye on her as we travel south,” I stated. It would be increasingly difficult to do so if she was now capable of teleporting out of my spatial vault as we travelled. It had been hard to keep track of her when on the island. The cold in the north had helped to keep her close, but with immunity to the cold’s grasp, her ability to fly and now her ability to escape the spatial vault I had been keeping her contained in. It would be a losing battle.

“I will buy a collar for her straight away,” I answered the indirect criticism of my beast-taming skills. There was bound to be some way to add a tracker to it through either the giant's glyphs, dwarven runes, elvish enchantments or human sigils. It would just take a little time to work it out.

“Perhaps we could help you there.” Fru Ingar offered, keen to move past this little understanding and offer a gift of their own. We would be honoured to offer you a fine IceWyrm leather collar adorned with topaz.” She rang the bell once more, and after a whispered conversation with the servant, who appeared, he soon entered again with a black hardwood box, which she handed to Jarl Njord, who, after a quick look inside, turned to me.

“ A small gift in honour of the friendship between Drangar Valley and Wester Isles.” He offered the box across the table. Inside was a white ice wyrm leather collar perfectly sized to fit Nyx’s neck, and a yellow topaz gemstone was centred in the middle.

“The topaz is a gemstone of strength.” Jarl Njord added, cracking his knuckles as he flexed his hands, drawing attention to his own bejewelled fingers and the rings he wore.

“A wonderful gift, thank you, Jarl Njord.” I nodded with respect to his gift and the return of my dragonling. I was grateful that we had managed to smooth out the situation amicably. I did not want to spend our journey running away from the rulers of this part of the compass.

“You’re welcome.” He answered magnanimously once more now that the situation's awkwardness had passed. “I hope that all is forgiven and we can enjoy the rest of this fine food.”

At this point, Xenodochus entered with the deserts. “Of course.” I answered before adding, “On a full stomach, it is easy to forgive most things.” I quipped.

. . .

The rest of the meal went without incident, and we were soon retiring to our rooms. Despite the bonds of friendship we had forged, there was little trading that could take place between our two domains. At least not yet. In time, perhaps with a growing network of lodestar locations I could teleport to, I could personally transport a significant amount with my spatial vault. However, it would be a logistics network limited by the bottleneck of my presence for every transaction. So other than promises of fair trade without tax for our cross-country trade, I had not attempted to secure anything else. That alone, though, might prove worth my weight in gold should I attempt to make the trades. Already, I was thinking about what I could transport between the three locations I now had logged.

Thorpe, Drangavik, Drangasfjord could be the beginning of my burgeoning merchant empire and would have been had I not been so focused on making my way home. I was both fascinated by and dreading what my family, in particular my sister, would be getting up to on Wester Island without my guidance and control. My little kingdom had been growing beautifully, and I did not want it to continue doing so without my guidance, less it grows in weird and wonderful ways.

“Rest well, Kai. We have a long way to go tomorrow.” Namir commanded from within my spatial vault. Nyx and Namir had claimed one of my corner Elendil trees to sleep in. I, on the other hand, made the most of the four-poster beds provided by the best hospitality the Gryfalcon’s Ledge could offer. With a soft sigh of contentment, I slipped between the cool covers and slid into sleep. It had been a long day with a lot of revelations.

. . .

The soft click of a key in a lock snapped my eyes open, and I watched in wonder and alarm as the fireplace’s facade slid open.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om