Katool snoozed over her mother’s shoulder, brought to the gentle fire in the centre of the shared family estate. She stirred awake as her mother placed her down, rubbing her eyes before yawning. The other children were all in similar states of exhaustion, having had too much fun during the festival, though when they saw the trio of elders, their tiredness gave way to boundless energy.

Gangak picked up Taygak first, kissing her forehead, before brushing her hair. “Did you enjoy the festival my little Taygak?”

“Yes,” the girl replied, allowing her grandaunt to greet the other Gak children, before she went on to greet the other children.

Otkan picked up both Damokan and Kalokan together, the children resting up against her shoulders, while she greeted the other children.

Turot hugged his grandfather, before Jarot held out his arm. Turot grabbed it and pulled himself off the ground, giggling with glee.

Katool walked up to Gangak, sitting down beside her. “I ate lots of bread and pizza.”

“Did you enjoy it?” Gangak asked.

“Yes,” the girl replied. “It was nice. I watched the fighting. My sister picked me up and cleaned my mouth.”

“How wonderful,” Gangak said, listening to the various tales from the children.

“Taygak, eat,” Taygak said, nodding her head with satisfaction, saying no more about her day.

“What about you, smelly girl?” Adam asked, picking his sister up as she rubbed her eyes. “Did you eat lots of bread?”

“Bwead,” Lanarot replied, smirking at Adam, before she lay against his front.

The triplets lay on blankets to one side, away from the fire, enjoying the coolness away from it. They looked up to their aunt, but dropped their heads to the blankets once more. They, too, were tired from their outing.

“Did you watch the fights?”

Lanarot hollered and threw up her hands, before squealing. She continued to laugh for a long while, causing Adam to smile. He brushed her hair and kissed her forehead.

“Did you all enjoy yourself?” Adam eventually asked once the children lay on the blankets, relaxing a short way away from the fire. They were tired, but did not want to sleep yet, so lazed around to expend no energy.

“Yes,” the children replied.

“Do you want me to read you a story?” Adam asked.

“Okay,” Taygak said, getting up. She stopped, trying to remember who the last person to choose the story was, looking to Katool. After Katool, it was herself, so she quickly scampered away to find a story she wanted him to read.

The group moved away to one side, leaving the adults be. They didn’t keep an eye on Adam as he began to read to them, the time for suspecting Adam had long passed. Of course, sometimes a few of them would glance over their way to check on their own children, but they left Adam to his business.

“He is good with the children,” Jarot said. “He takes that from me.”

“So you did find an Elvish lover,” Gangak joked.

Jarot huffed. “What Elvish lover? You can see how he behaves, how can you not at least believe he is my grandson?”

“He is certainly your grandson,” Otkan stated.

Mirot frowned, but left her father to say his own nonsense. He believed Adam to be his grandson, and there was nothing she could do to stop that. No, it was that she couldn’t refuse the statement even if she wanted to.

“He is good with our children,” Citool said. “I have seen the way he behaves with his sister and his Cousins, and though there is a distinction in how he treats them, he does not go too far in his treatment of Katool and the others.”

“There is still a wall between them, but in other ways there is less of a wall,” Kaygak said. “He will not kiss the children, but he will make them magical weapons.”

“Katool tried to kiss his cheek once but he refused and diverted her attention,” Citool said. “It was expertly done.”

Jarot hummed quietly, wondering if he should deal with the matter, but he didn’t want to press himself onto the other families.

“He still feels awkward with our children,” Shikan said. “He does not want to press too far, for both our sake.”

“He is awkward with his own children too,” Jarot said, his eyes falling to the tiny green forms, which were snoozing away to one side.

“Everyone is awkward with his children,” Sonarot stated, smiling at her joke.

Jarot returned the smile. “That is true.” His eyes scanned the group playfully, noting their squirming. “He is good with children, but I wonder how he will raise them. They will grow within the Iyr for some time, but we…” Jarot’s neck and jaw tensed. “We decided to create distance between them and we.”

“I wonder how powerful they will become,” Sonarot said, diverting her father’s rage.

Jarot allowed his daughter to divert his attention to a more interesting matter. She was always good with doing that. Her marriage into the Rot family was seen as a blessing by more than just himself. “The strongest. My little Jarot will be strong too. He will learn our ways.”

“How will he learn our ways?” Mirot asked.

“I will teach him,” Jarot said. “When he is…” The old Iyrman paused. “No. He will not learn our ways. He will remain small forever, and will not leave my arms.”

Churot peeked up from his book. He could see the way his grandfather looked at the Goblins. It was impossible, of course. However, it was not so much a lie as it was a wish, a wish for the children to remain within his grasp forever, so they could not be hurt.

“They will be too small to use our ways,” Sonarot said. “They should learn magic.”

“If they are a Rot, they should…” Jarot stopped, realising Churot was paying attention. “No, magic is good too.” He wondered how he had managed to play himself this way, to allow everyone else to pin him down like this.

Kaygak looked to her husband, sighing. The topic of magic was something they were trying to deal with, and it was all thanks to Adam. Their way was that of the sword and shield, but they had been dealing with Adam’s influence for some time.

“Yes,” Jarot said, nodding his head. “They should remain within the Iyr and learn the ways of magic. Once they are powerful enough, they will be able to assist the Iyr in their own way, if they wish to.”

“If they learn within the Iyr, then they should help the Iyr, what is the matter of their wishes?” Mirot asked.

“The Iyr does not forget its debts, but their debt may be paid back by their father.”

The group looked to Adam, who had stopped reading to gasp at the children when it was a particularly tense moment within his story, and after a pause for dramatic effect, he continued. The Iyr had chosen to help him, but there were so many ways that Adam had assisted the Iyr. If they could chain him to the Iyr, it would have been for the best. He would have already been killed if it hadn’t been for his connection to the Rot family, for he was a being too dangerous to be left alive.

“Konarot, Kirot, and Karot will also be raised well,” Jarot said. “They can learn our ways.”

“Can they learn our ways and still use their own strengths?” Sonarot asked. She knew that Half Dragons still possessed the latent magics of their Dragon blood, being able to use the breath, though at a smaller scale.

“If they could, would they not be the strongest Rot to date?” Jarot asked, his lips forming a small smile.

“They would be too dangerous with our abilities,” Mirot said. “They also possess the ability to resist the cold, but with our rage, they could do so much more.”

“We are able to learn such abilities because we have always held the greatest responsibility,” Jarot said. “Even now, our family may be at the lowest it has ever been, but it is not difficult, and it has never been difficult, for the Rot family to soar.”

Mirot sighed once more. Why she had decided to speak against her father, she didn’t know. She leaned back in her chair, placing a hand against her stomach, a habit she had developed when she was pregnant with Gurot. “Are you to remain here still, father?”

“Do you wish to kick me out already?”

“I just worry for mother.”

“I worry too,” Jarot said, looking to the Goblins again.

Mirot leaned her head back again. Her father had been entrapped by the Goblin children, who were not even a month old. They, like their father, were already so terrifying.

Jurot lifted up his sister, whose eyes were half open as she struggled to stay awake. He carried her away while Adam went to check on his twins, seeing them sleeping peacefully. Otkan was nearby, taking watch with a Gak for the night.

“Are you staying the night?” Adam asked.

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” he said, awkwardly, and Otkan bowed her head in response.

Adam returned back to the Rot family estate, seeing Lanarot half dozing off as her mother brushed her teeth. He brushed his own teeth, and returned to find Lanarot holding Jurot’s finger with her hand, sucking on her thumb as she slept. His own children waited for him to sleep so they could trap him.

Konarot rested her head against her father’s chest, using it as a pillow. Her tail remained flopped to one side, though the other children had placed their own over his arms as they slept beside him.

“Isn’t it unfair, Jurot?”

Jurot could sense it, the same sensation he received whenever Adam was about to say something like that.

“How is it allowed that they can be this cute?” Adam asked, with great seriousness.