“How many walls does the Iyr have?” Sir Vonda asked.

“I know, right?” Adam replied.

Filliam craned his neck, staring up towards the statues. “By the Gods…”

“Right?”

“Big,” Nobby said.

“Yeah.”

The huge walls of the Main Iyr had awoken something within the newcomers.

Sir Vonda, who had grown up in the Order of Life’s Rose, had always felt so comfortable in her fortress. They had piled the walls high, having reformed the walls a few centuries prior. She had heard that the walls had been based off the walls of the Iyr, and now she could see how.

‘Great Walled,’ Sir Vonda thought. ‘I can see why the Iyr holds such a title. Even if they manage to pass the first set of walls, though hundreds of thousands of bodies would be piled high because of it, they have to come across these walls…’

Her eyes fell to the statues, which reminded her of the statues of her Order of Life’s Rose. ‘And the ancient magics which protect the Iyr rival those of the Great Temples.’

Filliam couldn’t help but want to touch them, and the statues which loomed over him menacingly. ‘The Iyr’s fascination with walls is truly incredible. I wonder if there are inner walls too?’

‘Hard to climb,’ Nobby thought.

As they entered, children swarmed them. Filliam pulled away, shocked by the mass of children, while Sir Vonda and Nobby remained frozen, all the while hearing the chorus of different languages asking for gifts.

“If you want gifts, you need to line up,” Adam stated, loudly.

The children continued to babble loudly, excitedly bouncing up and down.

“No gifts!” Jurot shouted in their tongue, causing the children to quieten down, the bouncing quickly stopping. “Line up, or no gifts.”

The children began to shuffle quietly into a long line, about sixty children long, though many of the bigger children managed to take their place at the front by virtue of having bigger bodies which blocked out their smaller Iyrmen.

“Thanks,” Adam said.

Jurot nodded his head, crossing his arms as he waited for the gifts to be handed over. Zeus stepped beside Adam, covered in bags, most of which were filled with gifts for the children. Many other Iyrmen were paying attention, wondering why the children were lined up.

It was so orderly.

‘That’s not the way you give gifts,’ they thought.

“Many of these were made by villagers we came across,” Adam said. “However, do you know which village these came from?”

“No,” came the cacophony, some of the children were slightly more delayed than others.

Adam smiled. “Sir Merry lives with these villagers.”

“Ooh!” most of them responded.

“Sir Merry?” one asked. “King Sword from before?”

“That’s right.”

“Oooh!” came a greater response.

“These were given to us because I helped someone who knew Sir Merry, so they hold the gratitude of the village. I want you all to take good care of these little trinkets, okay?”

“Okay,” came the children’s voices, though some of them whispered quietly to one another.

“Is he lying?”

“He’s with Cousin, so he can’t be lying.”

“He’s not an Iyrman though.”

Adam threw a look to Jurot.

“He is telling the truth!” Jurot shouted.

“Ooh!” came a much greater response, and some of the children started to chatter and bounce.

Adam smiled. “Sir Landon so graciously donated them so that you could have them.” He began to hand out the trinkets to each child, including to the newcomers who had seen the line and joined it without understanding what it was.

“These kids queued up so well, I almost thought I was back home,” Adam said.

“You are home, Adam,” Jurot said.

‘You sappy bastard,’ Adam thought, smiling. “I meant, back in my… you know.”

Jurot nodded his head slowly. “Your people queued?”

“Yeah,” Adam said, unable to hide his smile. “And we were really damn good at it too. Enough about queueing, though, let’s head home.”

‘Who takes pride in queueing?’ Sir Vonda thought, watching as Adam walked away, humming to himself.

“Cousin Jurot! Cousin Adam!” call the voices of a number of children, all of whom came to swarm Adam.

“Welcome home,” Sonarot said, pulling the pair in for a tight hug, kissing their foreheads. “What is this?” she asked, rubbing her son’s new scar.

Jurot twitched, doing his best not to spoil the secret. “A story.”

“I see you have brought more Guests,” Sonarot said, noting that her son had something interesting to tell them.

“Yeah,” Adam said. “Sort of the same as before. Priest of Life from the Order of Life’s Rose, Sir Vonda, Tinkerer Filliam, Adventurer Fred, and soon to be Expert Nobby.”

“Welcome,” Sonarot said, smiling towards the group as she greeted them. “Come. Elder Zijin will be here to guide you to your place of stay, but please place your items in this room and make yourself comfortable.”

“Oh my gosh!” Adam gasped. “Who is this big girl?” He scooped Lanarot up as she played with her blocks.

She coughed and grumbled before looking back up to see Adam, freezing as she tried to register who it was that held her.

“Wow! You’re so big and strong now, aren’t you?” Adam pulled her close to his puthral breastplate, which she slapped gently, remembering it. He planted a firm kiss on her cheek. “Did you miss me, Lanababy?”

“Aboo boo boo?” She squirmed in his grasp and extended her arms out to her mother, who swiftly took the baby.

“What are you doing? It’s papa Jurot and papa Adam.” Sonarot held her up to look at them. Lanarot squirmed but stopped when she looked at Jurot, seeing the pattern on his forehead.

“Papa?” Adam asked. “Does that mean brother?”

“Yes,” Sonarot said. “She will speak soon, so I am teaching her the words she should learn.”

“Oh,” Adam said. “Then what’s father?”

“Dada.”

“Grandfather?”

“Baba.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. “Almost all of those were used to describe father back where I’m from, so that’s pretty confusing. In fact, papa was probably used for father the most.”

Sonarot smiled. “How awkward it must be for you.”

“Anyway,” Adam said. “We’ve got quite the tale to tell you, but first…” Adam turned on his heel and looked to the children, narrowing his eyes. “Who are these strangers?” ‘Wait, who the hell is that?’ Adam thought, noting a face he hadn’t seen before. No, he had seen it before, they had just disappeared, around the same time as another familiar face.

Katool stared up at him, blinking. “I am Katool.”

“He is just joking,” Raygak said. “We have caught you, Cousin Adam.”

“When did you become so smart, Raygak?” Adam asked.

Raygak smirked. “I have been learning,” he said, proudly.

“Oh? Has everyone here been good?” Adam asked. “I have brought many gifts for good boys and girls.”

“I have been very good,” Raygak said. “I washed the dishes.”

“Eat vegetables,” Taygak said.

Adam smiled. “What? Taygak, you’ve been eating your vegetables?”

“Yes,” Taygak replied, nodding her head confidently. “All.”

“All of them?” Adam looked to Sonarot, eyebrows raised.

“All of them,” Sonarot replied.

“Wow!” Adam said, putting his fists to his waist. “Well, luckily for you all, I’ve brought a lot of gifts then. You’ll never guess which village they came from.”

“The Knight of Death’s village?” Raygak asked.

“No, they came from…” Adam paused. “Actually, yes.”

Raygak raised his brows in surprise. “Really?”

“Well, the previous Knight of Death was there, so yes? Sir Merry was there too.”

“The King’s Sword from before?” Raygak asked.

“The very same.”

“Are you joking?” Raygak asked, his eyes squinting at Adam suspiciously.

“You think I’m joking about something like that?” Adam asked. “Ask Jurot if you don’t believe me?”

Jurot let out a snort, trying his best not to spoil his secret. “It is true.”

Adam pulled out all the different trinkets he had for them, but also took out the Dragons he had bought from Filliam. “Here,” Adam said. “Raygak, Taygak, come and pick which one you like.”

“What this?” Taygak asked, squatting down.

Adam spun the key to reveal what they did, and Taygak clapped her hands.

“I pick?” Taygak asked.

“You and Raygak, yes. You two have been doing lots of good things so you can have one each.”

Taygak picked one with purple eyes, and Raygak picked one with red eyes.

“The other three are for…” Adam paused. ‘Wait. I messed it up.’

“Who is this young man showing such favouritism to my Taygak?” called a voice from nearby. It was a Devilkin woman, one Adam hadn’t met before. There were a handful of other Iyrmen he hadn’t seen with familiar tattoos.

“I’m Adam, son of Fate, Nephew of the Rot family,” Adam replied. ‘How many titles am I going to have?’

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You are Adam?”

“Yeah.”

“I do not like you, Adam,” she said, picking her daughter up to kiss her forehead.

‘What did I do this time?’ Adam thought, before he stepped away from her, walking behind one of the children. “Turot, help me. I’m being bullied.”

“Adam is a good boy,” Turot said back to his aunt.

“Turot?” Adam called. “When did you get back?”

“I came back at Nightval,” he said. “In the beginning.”

“Oh?” Adam said. “That’s about the time we left.”

He nodded. “You went some days before.”

“Did you have fun?” Adam asked.

Turot nodded. “Lots of fun!”

“What did you do?”

“I-“ Turot quickly stopped, noting all the looks of the adults.

“Careful, Turot,” the Devilkin woman warned. “You cannot say.”

“I watched the Ranging,” he said.

“As long as you had fun,” Adam said. “Since you are so big and strong now, you need to protect me from your aunt, okay? She shouldn’t bully me, right?”

The Devilkin woman stared at Adam, who had taken a knee behind Turot. “Do you have no pride?”

“Pride?” Adam asked. “Is that something you can eat? Or is it prideful that you bully your darling nephew like this? Taygak, even though I’ve given you a Dragon, your mother is bulling me. Won’t you help Adam who is a good boy?”

Taygak looked to her mother. “No bully Adam, mama.”

“You’re as queer as they say,” she said.

“I get that a lot,” Adam said.