How I hated this damnable volcano. And it wasn’t the first time I had thought those words on the trip. To my left, I could see Yun-Yun struggle to keep up with the abnormal speed that Moor was keeping. “Hey Moor, how much further until we get what ye promised?” I looked at the wizened old man, but got no immediate reply.

As I helped Yun-Yun over a rather treacherous set of rocks, the entire mountain shook, and several cracks began spewing lava. Up ahead, Moor stopped climbing. “There it is, just like she promised.” He nodded towards something out of view. Both of us hurried to catch up to see what he was referring to.

There, in the middle of a lake of lava, was a cradle of ice, somehow not melting in the blazing heat. Moor seemed pretty satisfied. “As she foretold, you will find the child born of Ice and Fire on the slopes of the burning peak.” Moor seemed quite full of himself as he quoted Lady Labyrinthia once more.

Yun-Yun rushed past me, towards the lake of lava, with a desperate and eager expression on her face. She discarded her twin axes at my feet as she passed. “Moor, a little help, please?” Yun-Yun was unaffected by the heat, as all Fox Spirits were. If only my own Duergar constitution held up as well.

Moor sighed and dragged a hand through his long silver beard. “Just give me a moment, Yun-Yun. Ice magic isn’t my strong suit.” He made walked to the edge of the molten lake, there he chanted in a low steady voice. The surrounding temperature was dropping, fast, but Moor kept chanting.

The lake of boiling rock was hissing, its surface darkening. More bent down and touched the ground next to the lake. In response to his touch, a path of hardened rock appeared from the edge and over to the frozen cradle in the center of the lake. Moor looked at Yun-Yun and nodded. She took a step onto the path. Then another. “Thanks Moor, I’ll be right back!”

With her six tails wagging up a storm, she rushed down the path towards the cradle. She skidded to a halt next to the cradle and with great care picked up what was lying within. Moor shuddered. I reacted the moment I noticed. “Yun-Yun, Moor can’t keep this up much longer, get back here on da double!”

Yun-Yun looked as beautiful as the dawn as she sprinted back, the path erupting into flames behind her. In her arms she held a small swathed form. As she ran past Moor, he scrambled back to avoid the rebelling fires. The now empty cradle sank into the molten lake behind us, causing the lake to boil and hiss. Moor got to his feet. “Let me get us off this damnable mountainside and back to the hold.” I scooped up Yun-Yun's axes and we both stepped closer, so Moor could teleport us.

——————————————

A blinding flash of light and the three of us appeared in the main hall of the Citadel. All around us, several Duergar scrambled back from our sudden entrance. Next to me, Gran looked at me while then leaned in close. “Yun-Yun, is it a lad or a lass?” I looked down at the sleeping child I held in my arms and carefully removed the cloth. “We have a daughter, Gran. A little baby girl.” I stifled a sob.

Gran nodded, then cleared his throat. “Listen up, everyone! By the grace of Lady Labyrinthia, me and ma beloved Yun-Yun have received a great blessing, today.” Gran’s voice was echoing through the hall. Yet, the child kept sleeping as if nothing was happening. As I was wrapping her back up, I noticed something around her neck.

I reached in and, with great care, removed the necklace around her neck. On it was one word engraved in beautiful letters. “Keari” Gran stopped his tale of our trip and looked at me. “Huh?” I held up the necklace so he could see it. “Our child’s god-given name is Keari.” The hall exploded into cheers and hurrahs. Moor looked at the necklace. “Lady Labyrinthia’s handwriting.” As he spoke, he reached out and carefully took it from my hands.

After studying it some more, he handed it to Gran. “Take good care of it. Keari will want answers about her origin, eventually.” Gran’s jovial expression turned serious. “Aye, one day she will wanna know. When it does, I will show her this and tell her what little I know.” Gran carefully pocketed the necklace. As he turned back around, the other Duergar dragged him off to celebrate. I looked at Moor. “Thank you, Moor, for this and all the help and support leading up to it.”

The old man broke into one of his rare, gentle smiles. “You are welcome, Yun-Yun. Now take care of the kid. Undoubtedly, Lady Labyrinthia has a plan with all of this, so raise her with care. Don’t spoil her, but don’t be too strict either.” As if I would do anything else. “Don’t worry, Moor. I don’t intend to squander this opportunity. And you better be a good uncle for her, you hear?” The old man looked at me with a completely shell-shocked expression, before he broke into a hearty laugh.

“Of course, dear. I will be her uncle, since you insist. Besides, the two of us have to make sure the kid learns some common sense. Since this place is woefully short on that.” He looked towards the other end of the room, where a constant stream of Duergar was rushing towards the mead hall to celebrate our new child. I couldn’t stifle my laugh when I saw the truth of his comment. “Don’t worry, little one, your uncle and I will make sure you know better than to behave as your Dad and his friends.” And we would do so for the next twenty-one years.