82 Small Talk I (1/2)

Azhar's presence let the builders fixate on something they believed was strong, and so they calmed down a little. Their tense and panicked movements went a little more slack, though their eyes still glanced back to the nearly sleeping wyrm every so often as they tiptoed away.

”This is covered by some kind of warranty, right?” called out Li as he pointed to the hole in the cottage and the destroyed greenhouse. ”Legitimate accident and all.”

The builders stopped. ”Ehrm, well, sir, I do not believe-”

The wyrm in Li's arms perked up, its head crawling over his shoulder to glare at the builders. Its mouth opened, its teeth glistening in the sun as a guttural hiss began to rumble from the depths of its throat.

”Looks like the kid's rearin' to eat somethin',” commented Azhar, his voice nonchalant and observant.

The builders stared at Azhar, taking in his words.

”Yes, yes, sir, most certainly.” The builder nodded five or six times to Li before turning to his flustered companions. ”Right, boys?”

The other builders nodded, and now that the responsibility of essentially giving Li a free job had now spread out among them, they felt much better about leaving, a few of them heading to the stall where they could probably down something for upset stomachs and shaky nerves.

”Don't all of you feel bad bout' any of this,” said Azhar as he waved the builders off. ”Guild'll cover ya, even for the new job, and if they don't, then knock on my door. I'll cover the difference. So scram, we got things to talk bout' here.”

--

The fireplace roared, making the cottage a little hot in the height of summer. But the hole in the wall let a nice breeze flow in every now and then. Li made a mental note to cover that up with a tarp before random critters and bugs came in, but honestly, so long as his presence was there and it registered pests as hostile, not even the tiniest of insects would dare to step in the cottage.

”Oh, why doesn't it like me?” Jeanne pouted as she tried to reach her hand again to the wyrm.

The wyrm, resting its head on Li's cross-legged lap, snapped at her hand, hissing.

”Look at its head. Its so smooth and so pettable!”

”Stop it, Jeanne,” said Sylvie. She put a concerned hand on Jeanne's shoulder. ”You might get hurt.”

Jeanne pulled her hands back to her lap, her armor clacking with the movement. ”I thought I had a way with animals with how the puppy liked me.”

Li raised a brow. She had an innocent optimism that prevented her from knowing that she very well might have died from picking up Zagan.

”What're you on bout',” said Azhar. He was standing, blow slung around his chest, eyes observant on the wyrm. ”That dog was squirmin' like it was gonna' bite your head off. You ain't got no sense of how wild animals can be, and yet it boggles my mind that ya got such a sharp sense bout' huntin' monsters.”

”Monsters and pets are different,” said Jeanne.

”Sometimes, the dividing line is mighty thin.” Azhar nodded towards the wyrm. ”Like her.”

”Oh, so its female,” said Li. ”There doesn't seem to be any distinguishing features to tell male from female.”

”It's the eyes.” Azhar pointed at the wyrm's eyes, and it tensed up when it saw the movement. ”Look, now that it's got attention on my hand. Eyes are glowin' yellow, almost. Males got dull eyes. No shine.”

”I see.” Li nodded. The wyrm's mother had gleaming yellow eyes too. He had thought it was just a feature of the whole species, so it was interesting to learn more about the creature he was going to raise. ”Speaking of, how do you know so much about it?”

”Hinterlands are dragonkin country,” said Azhar. ”Our western borders hug the Mire Bogs where a whole hell of a lot of em' nest up.”

”Azhar is also an expert on beasts and monsters of all kinds,” said Sylvie. ”When we separated for our adventurer's training, he went to the southern guild of the bow.”

”Like how Riviera's adventurer's guild is the guild of the sword?”

”Precisely.” Sylvie nodded. ”Of course, all three of us learned how to hunt monsters, but the guild of the bow has far more expertise in hunting, trapping, and all the knowledge of monster behavior and habits that comes with that expertise.”

Azhar shrugged. ”Ain't much I learned down there, honestly. Lotta book smarts, mostly. Spent the last two years of my trainin' in the hinterlands, with my people. Ain't gonna find better hunters in the entire continent than there.”

”In summary, Az is amazing,” said Jeanne. ”He knows anything and everything about monsters.”