After getting into one of Erica’s carriages Jack had been awkwardly silent for over an hour. Erica was at the front of the first carriage in her little caravan while Jack, Noah and two others rested and ate in the second of the many carriages, which moseyed after the first in a comfortable pace despite not having a driver guiding the horses where to go.

The two others had already been inside the carriage when Jack and Noah got in, and they had been engaged in an avid discussion since what appeared to be long before the young boys joined them. It was a young woman who looked to be around the same age as Erica, if not a little older, who was clad in a similar cloak to the one Erica had been wearing when she met them in the stables. Though as she enthusiastically moved with the flow of the conversation he could catch glimpses of the skimpy outfit she wore underneath, her shoulders and stomach both showing as the small top left little to the imagination. She had introduced herself as Ivy when they got in, and given Noah a look which made Jack a little uncomfortable before proudly announcing herself to be an ex-prostitute.

The other individual in the carriage was an older gentleman who looked to be in his early 70s who seemed to have known Ivy long before she was picked up by Erica in the streets of Laverne. He looked tired, as if he had not slept in ages, and wore rags just like anyone who had spent the last few months or even years in the streets. He had introduced himself as Stanley in a soft yet raspy voice, which showed more energy than the rest of him. They had been speaking of people and places Jack didn’t know, or at least knew very little of, and feeling excluded from the conversation had started getting on his nerves.

“How do you two know each other?” He chimed in the moment he got the opportunity too.

“Ivy knew my daughter back in the day. They went to school together when they were children.” Stanley responded in a sombre tone, as a look of sadness briefly grazed his face.

“Knew as in, in the past?”

“She passed away when we were thirteen.” Ivy answered before Stanley could.

“Things went very downhill after that…” The old man then added.

“What happened?” Noah cautiously asked, still on high alert of the two other passengers in the carriage.

Stanley seemed reluctant to answer, clutching his upper body with his arms in a comforting way as he slowly spoke. “I started drinking more… which turned into an addiction outside of my control… It quickly took its toll on my business, as I ended up chasing away not only friends and family but also customers in my drunken state…”

“It’s alright, I can tell them later. I know this is all really emotional for you.” Ivy stopped him as he took a grief and regret filled sigh to collect himself and his thoughts.

“I… alright…”

“Do you want me to ask the lady if you can rest in a separate carriage?”

“I wouldn’t want to be a bother to her, she has already been far too kind…”

“Nonsense! I am sure it will be no problem at all.” Ivy said and opened the carriage door. She jumped out although the carriage was moving, and not even a moment later they heard her yelling outside. The carriage then came to a sudden stop, which caused Stanley to lose his balance and fall to his side into the barrels which were stacked against the carriage wall to his right.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked and helped the man back up to a seated position.

“Y-yes, thank you.”

The door was then aggressively opened by Ivy, its sturdy, wood slamming against the side of the carriage. “Whoops! Heh… The lady said you can rest in her carriage at the front.”

“I… Alright, I will be sure to thank her.” Stanley cautiously responded and got up from his seat. He took slow and careful steps towards the exit and let Ivy help him step down onto the ground. As the door closed after them the two boys sat in silence for a moment, until Ivy swiftly returned. She plopped down in her old seat with a bright smile before speaking.

“Where were we?” She asked, though before anyone could answer she tossed Noah a smirk and continued. “I can’t say Laverne is a good place to hide, Greg. D would be pulling his hair out if he knew you had been here this entire time.”

“Yet here you are as well, or are you still his dog? Still need Feyroot to fall asleep?” Noah put his hand on the small dagger strapped to his hip as he frowned at her.

“Let’s say I stole a page from your book and bolted when things turned nasty.”

“Great, so this means we will have to deal with your withdrawals…”

“Precisely, I have about twelve more days of the stuff and then I’ll be forced to go sober.”

“You two know each other?” Jack nervously tugged on his sleeves as he spoke.

“Yes, unfortunately. Wanna get off? If we walk at a brisk pace we can maybe be back in Laverne by nightfall.”

“Still running away the second things get difficult or complicated. No wonder D despised you.” Ivy snickered at Noah.

“At least I didn’t sell my body for drugs.”

“Instead you hide your insecurities behind snarky comments, childish behaviour and a need for attention that your parents didn’t give you. I wonder which of us people look down on more.”

Noah pulled his dagger and leaped for Ivy, pressing it against her throat, though before he could say anything she spoke again. “You are such a child, Noah. All bark and no bite, fitting for one of Darvano’s many lost puppies.”

“It’s been four years, how do you know I haven’t changed?”

“People don’t change Noah. You haven’t changed one bit, you are the same lying, dumb and insecure child you were back in Berxley. Just like how I also haven’t changed.” She smirked and pressed a dagger against his chest, pressing the tip gently between his ribs with a clear entryway to his heart.

Noah plopped back down in his original seat with a childish frown. “So what, you are just planning to leech off the lady and find a way to get high?”

“I’m planning to use this as an easy way to make some money, get away from Darvano and off the streets. I’ll go sober not because I want to but because I don’t have any safe access to them anymore. Once I am sober we’ll see if I want to start again.”

“Still exploiting people, nice…” Noah released a sarcastic sigh.

“Let’s see how long it takes before you start stealing from the lady and bolt for it. I’ll bet it takes less than a week.”

Jack awkwardly cleared his throat to remind the two of them he was still there, to which Ivy lit up like a small sun, although it was clear it was all a charade. “Sorry, sorry. I was just excited to see an old friend. I helped raise this kid here, and I had to pay for his debts when he ran.”

“As if you wouldn’t have done the same.”

“That depends, I was never told why you ran. What did Darvano even ask you to do?”

Noah didn’t answer, leaving the three of them in an awkward silence. “You got no elaborate lies up your sleeve like usual?” Ivy then broke the silence.

“I don’t want to talk about it…” Noah frowned and crossed his arms to which Ivy sighed audibly.

“Could one of you explain how you two know each other?” Jack asked to avoid the rapidly approaching awkward silence.

“This kid was picked up off the streets by a real nasty man once his orphanage burnt down and I had to raise the little brat. He constantly got into trouble and I had to face the consequences for every single stunt his dumb ass pulled.” Ivy nonchalantly explained while leaning back in the carriage.

“Were you also picked up by this guy?”

“Not exactly, I put myself there. Practically threw myself into his lap.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s called addiction, you might have heard of it. It’s pretty common for people in the streets.”

“So you just… put yourself in a bad situation to get drugs?”

“Wow, you are really good at connecting the dots.” Ivy rolled her eyes and made herself comfortable.

“I see where Noah got his attitude from…” Jack sighed to which Noah simply let out a light chuckle at the comment.

“What can I say? I am a great teacher.”

“So how does this connect back to Stanley?” He asked, bringing the conversation back where it started.

“Man, you really must like talking about sad things.”

“I am just curious…”

“I went to school with Stanley’s daughter, a sweet kid called Bella. Her mom died giving birth to her so Stanley was always a really loving single dad. When Bella died Stanley started drinking and it killed his business… and then when things looked dire financially he started gambling which I can tell you is not a great talent of his. Around this time both of my parents passed away in an accident, I was sixteen at the time and the bank took pretty much everything from me. While going over my father’s will and assets they noticed the numbers didn’t add up. Turns out he’d paid less than half the taxes he was supposed to. They took his business and most of my parents' things, and I was left with no income in a house on my own, which eventually the bank took as well because I had no idea what I was doing with the little money I was left with.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“Welcome to the orphan club.” Noah said and gave Jack a gentle kick, leaving a moist, dirty footprint on the boy’s back.. “You’re one of us now. Or I guess you have been for a few months now.”

“That has to be the saddest club out there. I would like to resign my membership.” Ivy responded dismissively.

“The membership lasts for life.”

“What happened after that?” Jack ignored Noah and turned towards Ivy while trying to wipe off the soggy mud from his back with his hand.

“I ended up with the wrong crowd, got addicted to feyroot and nightdust and was taught how to use sex to get it. I used to hide in Stanley’s basement whenever shady folk tried to tail me home, though it was always a huge pain to hear him lecture me about my life choices and the path I was going down. He was a great role model trying to tell me to go sober while he had a mug of mead in his hand. When opportunity arose I used Darvano to get easy access to drugs for a few years until Stanley ended up in the streets as well. He had managed to build a debt with someone who had Syndicate connections and I couldn’t stand seeing the old man killed or made a slave and sent to the deepmines.”

“You didn’t… you know… with Stanley right?” Jack asked as his face gave away how uncomfortable he felt with the topic.

“Are you out of your mind? By the hells no! That’s my friend’s dad you are talking about, watch your fucking tongue.” Ivy yelled and pointed her dagger at him.

“She’ll throw you out the carriage head first.” Noah pointed out as Jack retreated into the corner of the carriage.

“Damn straight I will.” Ivy said as she sheathed her dagger somewhere on her back. “So you better behave yourself.”

“Right, sorry…”

“Also… I hope you know I’ll refuse to ever call you Greg.” She then threw a glance at Noah.

“Why do you always have to ruin everything for me?”

“Why ‘Greg’ to begin with? Is that really the best name you could think of?”

“I panicked okay!” Noah exclaimed and threw one of the many spools of thread from the open crate next to him at her.

“Right, and ‘Greg’ was the first thing that came to your head?”

“Just shut up please?”

“Your imagination sure is astonishing… I’ll have to get myself a snack for when I get to watch you tell the lady you lied about your name.” Ivy smirked viciously as Noah buried his face in his hands.

*

“Just act confident and be yourself… What kind of bullshit advice is that?” Erica quoted back what the dragon had told her once she finally got a hold of him. Much to her dismay he had left her in a frightening silence on the second of the three days she had spent in Laverne.

“You did well, I fail to see why you are upset.” The dragon countered nonchalantly.

“You said you would be there! Do you have any idea how awkward I felt! I have been trying to get a hold of you for over a day now!” She scolded the dragon as she continued down the main road leading out of Laverne, heading north in the direction of the hideout where she had left the giants.

“Something unexpected came up, and my attention was needed elsewhere.”

“So you just left me to fend for myself?”

“Why do you say that as if you were in danger? You evidently had everything under control, and judging from the outcome you performed better than I had anticipated.”

“I just feel so stupid! Do you have any idea how many mistakes I made?”

“Mistakes that you will learn from and not repeat. Any consequences that may come from them we will deal with.” Dror’Khanik reassured her. “Besides, you looked as though you were enjoying yourself.”

“I felt like a child on festival day…” Erica sighed as she thought back on how she had spent her time in Laverne. It had likely been the most fun she had had in many years. For the first time in her life there had been no restrictions for how she could spend her money, which had felt incredibly liberating. She had ordered custom made clothing from expensive tailoring shops and paid extra to have them finished within two days, spent time relaxing in a bathhouse while wearing a thick layer of bandage on her arm to keep the staff members from seeing the stone-like surface underneath and shopped for materials and furniture which she normally wouldn’t even dare to look at.

“From how I see it the only mistake you made was letting the hairdresser you visited see your arm, something which is not as big of a deal as you are making it out to be.”

“Had I really let myself go that badly? The hairdresser joked that she’d need garden shears to cut my hair…”

“You are asking the wrong individual. I have little understanding of what your kind values in terms of physical characteristics.”

“I am not sure I know either at this point… Though it was fun to try expensive dresses and jewellery. It was nice to feel beautiful again…”

“Your kind cares about the strangest and most pointless things.” Dror’Khanik responded dismissively.

“Yeah yeah, I get it… you’re an oversized lizard. Making a silk dress which fits you would be impossible.” Erica gave an equally dismissive response. “Though I thought dragon’s liked gemstones and gold?”

“Dragon’s have a tendency to hoard things, though your kind greatly exaggerated to which extent we do it. Besides, only a small fraction of dragons hoard gems and gold.”

“Really? What do they hoard instead?”

“If they choose to hoard it is a very individual thing. I had a strange brother who chose to hoard exotic kinds of moss, though some hoard knowledge, secrets, memorabilia of heroes who failed to slay them and so on.”

“Exotic kinds of moss? I can imagine many heroes being disappointed if they came across his hoard.” Erica let out a slight chuckle.

“He was not the brightest, yet he has managed to outlive many of my more impressive brothers and sisters.”

“He sounds like a character in a children’s book.”

“His tale is not impressive, it would make for a very uninteresting story.”

“Children are easily impressed and amused.”

“Perhaps so.”

Silence filled her mind for a moment, and she took a deep breath of the refreshing air around her. “How do I tell them about the giants?” She eventually spoke, as she had a few questions she needed answers too.

“Hmm? Tell them they are helpers of yours, given to you by your mentor.”

“And then? How am I even supposed to tell them what we are trying to do?”

“There is no need to tell them anything currently. Simply put them to work and make them feel at home, once the time is right and they have a sense of belonging we tell them only what they need to know.”

“Which is?”

“Enough for them to want to fight for our cause.”

“You make this sound so simple..” Erica pointed out with a sigh.

“That is because it is.”

“Really now? What do I even tell them?”

“You give them an opportunity to live the life they wish unburdened by their past.” The dragon confidently explained as if such a thing was obvious.

“We aren’t going to put them in danger, right?”

“I cannot guarantee you that, followers of the sun god are trailing you as we speak and I cannot make promises on their behalf. If they choose violence we will have to defend ourselves.”

“They are just children…” Erica protested.

“Bad things happen to children as well, they are by no means immune. I thought you out of all people would know that.”

“I…” Erica began but stopped herself. She tried to put her thoughts into words yet nothing she could think of sounded right.

“What I can assure you Erica, is that these people will be safer with you than they will be in the streets. You are saving them from a life of torment or death and you need to give yourself some credit for that.”

“From one dangerous place to another…” Erica finally said with a sigh, though the burden of guilt she carried didn’t feel as heavy as it had done when she left the hideout a week ago.

“You say that as if a safe place truly exists in this world. Even the most powerful surround themselves with guards to protect them from whatever dangers are out there.”

“Is there really nowhere safe out there?”

“No.”

“Even Mount Soleste and the home of the gods?”

“You say that as if the gods themselves do not fear one another.”