Claymore and Dagger (closed)

[heartofcourage]

Fiona put her new weapon aside and went to join Sam in spoiling little Elin. The drake nuzzled against him, purring and trilling as she rubbed her maw against Sam's beard. Fiona scratched Elin's head, rubbing her fingers through her downy soft fur.

"It seems that our drakes have formed a little family with Kesh. He's been dutifully following Roman and Elin since you left." Fiona commented, patting her father's drake on the neck as he stood by with a content look on his face.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'll bet Roman took a while to warm up to 'im," Sam chuckled, ducking his head as Roman and Kennah both nuzzled him. "Alright, alright, I missed you too, lad," Sam laughed, pushing Roman's maw away. Kesh enjoyed the attention, but he had a calm disposition like Kennah, if not more so.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Kesh might not have given him much of a choice, but he watches Elin when Roman goes to hunt. I think he knows that Kesh will protect her with his life." Fiona said as she saw the front door open and Rhett stood there, looking for her. "I know, I'm late. I'll be in to eat in a moment."

 

[KieranSoares]

Rhett raised an eyebrow at Fiona, but he couldn't help a small smile before retreating inside. Sam set Elin down before wrapping an arm about Fiona's waist with a smile. "Let's go before he drags us in, love."

 

[heartofcourage]

"He thinks I'm working too hard." Fiona said as Sam wrapped his arm around her and she rested her head against his shoulder. "He might be right. I've never been this exhausted before in my life."

Elin tried to follow them, only stopped when Kennah picked up her baby and nuzzled her. Elin purred, nuzzling against her mother and soon thoughts of following the humans indoors was forgotten.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You are workin' too hard, but it's fer good reason so I've got no room t'comment. Jus' don' work so hard y'collapse on us." Sam walked into the den with her, and Oleg came to hug Fiona tightly.

"Don't get too comfortable, little kit. We're going to bring dinner over to Voluun and Ericka," Oleg told her with a warm smile. The pair had had their newest kit shortly before Sam had gone to Malmo, and they'd wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before Voluun returned to work.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Uka, I just want to curl up and sleep." Fiona insisted but she knew she would lose the fight.

The family wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before she left back for Scotland. It meant family meals nearly every night and lots of long conversations. She enjoyed them but her training often left her wanting to sleep and do nothing else.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I know, my love," Oleg chuckled. "We'll try not to keep you too long. I'm sure Sam is looking forward to a good rest too."

"I wouldn' mind it," Sam smiled, trying not to let any weariness from his journey show.

 

[heartofcourage]

Soon, Fiona and Sam were walking with her grandparents and Rhett towards Voluun's house. Even before they made it, they could hear the shrieks of an unhappy infant. It made Fiona chuckle. It seemed the little kit was already giving his parents fits.

 

[KieranSoares]

When Sam opened the door, they found a sight that even made Rhett laugh. Voluun was laying on his back on the floor with his little white kit in his arms in front of the fire, the infant slowly calming in the warmth against his father's chest while Ericka looked on with an expression only a tired, relieved mother could have. Per was there too, having decided to stick around at his parents' home for some time while his brother was still little.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Voluun, let mormor have him." Anya said instantly as they tried to calm the crying infant. "You'll just ruin him."

Anya was teasing, of course, but she had a bright smile on her face as she scooped her newest grandson off his father's chest and he instantly stopped crying. She nuzzled against his little face, kissing his brow and showering him with love.

"He definitely wants to be clean and dry. That much we know." Ericka said with a soft laugh. "Heaven help you if he discovers he's soiled his nappy."

 

[KieranSoares]

"He's more trouble than Per ever was," Voluun sighed as he stood, going to ruffle Per's fur.

The little kit was much like his father, with white fur and broader wolf-like features that Voluun had gotten from one of his birth parents. They hadn't been able to find a name for him, so they'd gone with ancient tradition and asked the elders for help. Oleg had given the task to Ronun as Ronun was close with Voluun's little family. So, the day the kit was born, Ronun brought them the name 'Larkjan,' an ancient Amatachyle name which simply meant 'wilderness.' Amatachyle was an ancient language that was essentially the ancestor to all of the other tribal Five Nations languages, and it contained some of the same linguistic rules as English such as the occasional silent E and Scandinavian such as the soft J. It was a language almost no one could speak properly, but everyone knew pieces of.

 

[heartofcourage]

"He's a sweet little kit." Anya murmured, moving to sit next to the fire with the infant.

The rest helped to set up the food that Rhett had cooked for them and soon, Orla was joining them as well. It was nearly official that she and Rhett were together even though they hadn't said anything about it. It was clear that she adored the silent fox and he adored her.

 

[KieranSoares]

When Orla arrived, Rhett greeted her with an affectionate nuzzle and they sat side-by-side at the table. Sam was of course asked about his journey to Malmo, as he'd also picked up some things for the family while he was there. The tribe regularly traded with the city, and any letters came through Malmo too. Sam had visited Kjotva and Rakkar while he was there, and had sent some letters of his own out. He'd been delayed a day when Fiona's gear hadn't been quite finished yet, but he'd been glad for the chance to simply wander and see the city. He was always learning how to better do his job at home by seeing how others like him did theirs.

 

[KieranSoares]

When Orla arrived, Rhett greeted her with an affectionate nuzzle and they sat side-by-side at the table. Sam was of course asked about his journey to Malmo, as he'd also picked up some things for the family while he was there. The tribe regularly traded with the city, and any letters came through Malmo too. Sam had visited Kjotva and Rakkar while he was there, and had sent some letters of his own out. He'd been delayed a day when Fiona's gear hadn't been quite finished yet, but he'd been glad for the chance to simply wander and see the city. He was always learning how to better do his job at home by seeing how others like him did theirs.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona listened to Sam describe his adventure in Malmö. She was a bit jealous that she hadn't gone with him but it had been important for her to stay behind and continue her lessons with Dmitri. Soon she would be going back to Scotland and the training would stop.

When she was finished eating, she took the baby towards the fire and settled in to listen to Sam tell his stories. Soon enough, she had falling into an exhausted slumber, her cousin secure in her hands as he slumbered as well.

 

[KieranSoares]

Fiona was briefly woken some time later just as she was being carried into her own room in Sam's arms. He'd managed to avoid waking her on the way back, but it was when Sam set her down again that she was gently woken despite his best efforts not to disturb her.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Is dinner over?" Fiona asked in a sleepy voice as she woke, looking up at Sam as it took her a moment to realize that they were back at her grandparent's home. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

 

[KieranSoares]

"No worries," Sam murmured softly, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I brought ya back a little early. The rest're still over at Voluun's." He left her side to ready for bed, soon slipping under the covers in his usual dark trousers and a sleeveless tunic.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I've never been this exhausted in my life." Fiona said softly as she snuggled up against Sam's side. "And I missed your horribly."

 

[KieranSoares]

"It's good for ya," Sam teased gently as she told him how tired she was. He hugged her close and buried his face in her hair with a content sigh. "I missed you too, love..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Did you bring me anything else from Malmö besides the armor?" She asked with a smile, knowing that he had already done more than enough for her in simply paying for her new gear and retrieving it.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Well, th' gear, the weapons... I sent th' saddle patterns to David an' a letter off to my Uncle about possibly goin' to China in the future... Hm..." Sam couldn't help a little smile before he slipped from her arms to go over to where his saddlebags lay in the corner. "I did pick up somethin' else. Useful, no' jus' fer fun."

When Sam returned to her side, he opened up a paper package to pull free a black leatherbound book. "I won' claim full responsibility. Dmitri asked me t'find a certain person an' get this for ya... It's written entirely in Lunar, comes from Siberia. I thought it'd be of some use t'you seeing as ye'll be a Rider." The front cover was embossed with the pattern of a unique dragon scale and the Lunar letter 'U,' and inside were hand-painted images of all kinds of different dragons and notes about them, their abilities, their origins, and even stories of legendary dragons of each type.

"I was lookin' at it while I was waitin' fer your gear... Look." Sam opened up to a page he'd marked with a scrap of leather as a bookmark, showing her the most gorgeous Lunar swirling-style image of none other than Invah. The text being in Lunar was unreadable to Fiona, but the image told the whole story of Invah presenting a beautiful egg to a human woman, the loch in the background. "There's no picture of Gaiann, but he's mentioned in Invah's story," Sam told Fiona with a smile. "Glaynviahr's mentioned among the passage with his kind too."

The entire thing was a handbook, scrolls compiled into a book for Riders by Riders, and at the front it even went over types of gear, riding styles, saddle styles, weapons, survival and injuries, even basic care for fledglings or incapacitated dragons.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona smiled as she saw the sketch of Invah, the dragon looking beautiful and kind. She leaned her head against Sam's shoulder and let out a sigh, listening as he explained a few things to her and pointing out passages in the language that she didn't understand.

"You'll have to read it to me." Fiona said softly, her eyes already growing heavy.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I will fer now, but only if you work on learnin' Lunar an' Erygonian," Sam kissed her cheek before laying her back in bed. He set the book aside and laid beside her with a long sigh as he relaxed. It would only be minutes before he was out.