Lov felt like a new person after his bath.
Even Nord could see it as he looked at his nephew in the brightness of the sunset. Lov's scales drank in the light, while at the same time reflecting it. It reminded Nord of a sunset reflected by the waves of a lake. Lov rushed across the yard and into Jaxon's house, all but bursting through the door.
"Whoa, slow down there, Buddy!" Jaxon chided him, turning from his pantry. He shook his head disappointedly. "Looks like we'll have to hit the pub for food tonight." He said, as Nord ducked through the door.
"What's that?" Nord asked, shaking the last of the water from his hair, "I thought all you halflings thought about was food."
"That gives offense, sir!" Jaxon said, drawing his shoulders back and stretching his spine. "We also like gardening, getting good and drunk, and of course, smoking our pipes!"
Nord waved his hand in front of his face as if fanning smoke away. "I forgot you smoked one of those god awful things!" He complained sarcastically.
"Hmph!" Jaxon walked over to Nord and pushed his finger into his chest. "Seems to me I remember someone trying to talk me into sneaking into a Wyrm cave for some dragonweed!" Lov struggled not to laugh as Jaxon stood on tip toe to reach Nord's chest.
"You know you enjoyed that stuff as much as I did!" Nord argued back.
"It's not the point!" Jaxon said leading them out the door. Jaxon and Nord continued this argument all the way to the pub before Lov roared at them.
"Enough!" he said, shoving them through the door.
A young curvy lady met them at a counter. The Green Dragon was a tight run ship. One of Jaxon's relatives had bought it from the previous owner when he became too old to run it properly.
Now, Jaxon came here almost every night. A free meal was a free meal after all. It also helped that the place was kept clean and orderly, the portions were generous, and the staff all knew his name.
"Evening, Jaxon." The curvy barmaid addressed him. She had eyes the color of golden wheat in the sunlight. "Who are your friends?" She asked curiously.
"Don't go getting yourself in trouble, Anna." He pointed at Nord. "That one's old enough to be your great grandfather's daddy." He pointed to Lov, "And this one seems to still be a bit wet behind the ears when it comes to women."
"Hey!" Lov defended himself.
"What'll it be, boys?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Just calling it as I see it, you young whipper snapper!" He turned to Anna. "Make it two meads and one coffee."
Lov blushed, the scales of his cheeks growing darker, and stared at the table. His hunger flared for a moment, burning to show Jaxon. What he'd show he didn't know, but he felt something building.
"Enough teasing him, Jaxon, I seem to remember a few girls cute as her leading you around by the nose." Nord teased his friend.
"My warning was as much for him as for her!"
Lov couldn't help but laugh again, it seemed his uncle and this man were close, but he wondered why his parents had never spoken of him.
"How do you know my parents?" He asked Jaxon directly.
Jaxon looked to Nord, "Seems he has the look of Amon, but the temperament of his mother."
Lov snarled, "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!"
Jaxon gave a start. "Are you okay there, Lov?"
Lovonian struggled not to snap again. He mastered his glare, forcing himself to smile. He felt shocked at how his dragonhunger had taken over momentarily.
"My people have just been mutilated, possibly dead or sold into slavery. My father is dead, my mother missing. No, I'm not fine, I'm the farthest thing from fine." Lov's voice sounded cold and angry. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and calming himself. "I'm sorry, Jaxon. I'm just tired, and I don't like being talked about, but not to."
Jaxon clapped him on the back, "All is well, my young friend. I remember puberty."
Lov blushed again and prompted Jaxon, "My parents?"
Jaxon got a distant look on his face. "How I met your parents. Actually, I've known your mother longer than I've known your father or Nord. I'm sure you've heard of Gendry, our Titanbringer?"
Anna arrived with their drinks, placing three large mugs before them. Lov picked his up and smelled it gingerly. A hearty bold smell filled his nostrils. It was rich and delicious. Eagerly, he took a drink, and promptly sprayed Jaxon with a shower. The bitter taste was unexpected. Jaxon wiped his face as Lov attempted to stutter out an apology.
"All is forgiven." Jaxon said, waving the apology away. "Let me show you how I like it." He put two spoonfuls of sugar into it and asked Anna for some cream. When she brought it, he poured a generous helping into the coffee, changing the dark almost black liquid a soft brown. "There, try that."
Lov tasted the drink, and knew nirvana. The strong taste had been softened perfectly. Just a hint of bitterness to go with a hint of sweetness. He drank deeply, and licked his chops, smacking his lips in pleasure. "That's delicious!"
Nord interjected, "That's gross, keep your tongue in your mouth, boy."
Jaxon chuckled a little before continuing the conversation. "Thank you. Actually, your mother is the one who introduced me to coffee." Jaxon looked to Nord, "Your uncle and I are close, but your mother and I were closer."
His smile deepened. "She and I were orphans together at the temple in Heart. Where they build the Titans." He turned away a little, "As for why she never told you about me, I don't know. Maybe she just felt you weren't ready."
He waved to one of the other patrons, then turned back to Lov. "One thing I learned from your mother is that dragons can take a long time to mature. When I met her, she was wild and a little crazy with her dragonhunger. She coveted other orphans' possessions, and while she never stole or beat up anyone for them, she had ways."
A thoughtful look came over the halfling's face. "Like the semester she ended up not having to clean a thing because of debts owed to her for simple favors. A roll from her at dinner for a day of doing her laundry, things like that. But when done to everybody, over time that is upwards of a hundred people at your command. And once you start taking orders, well, it gets hard to stop. We all did her chores for an extra week, she had us so used to taking care of her responsibilities. And she never once told us to do the things, only implied it would work off our debt." He took a long pull from his drink, wetting his mouth. "It was something beautiful to behold. She was a masterful manipulator." He wiped foam off his upper lip with the back of his hand.
"She was a hard egg to crack so to speak." He continued, "I'm the kind of guy who likes to make everyone my friend. And as skilled as she showed herself at playing people, I knew I had to be on her good side.
"Tyrosh was both magnificent and horrible in her younger years. The same as I expect you to be." Jaxon took another swallow of his mead. "As she got older, I think Gendry sensed great potential in her. He pulled her aside. Started giving her private lessons, and she thrived under them.
"She ran that place for the next fifty years before leaving with your father. I didn't agree with her at that time. I thought she had wronged us, abandoning us right as we started the war against the orcs." He shook his head and made a weird face as if to get a bad taste from his mouth. "Remember this because you'll probably never hear it from me again. I was wrong. Ultimately, it was your father's intelligence, linked to us by your mother, which won us the last battle. They had better numbers, better positions, and except for a small force of Titans, they also had better warriors." A look of admiration came to his face. "But somehow, your father found a way to get their battle plans. We knew what they were going to do. How they were going to do it, and what forces were going to be where. If that last had been all they had gotten, it would have revealed three groups lying in wait to hit us when we were down. Instead, the Titans took care of the ambush forces while we slept, and the orcs were crushed for not having their reserves."
He came back from his memories, taking in the room around him. "That is how I know your mother. She's what probably saved me from being killed in the Battle of the Horn, by making me all but useless. Not that I minded at the time, I was as wet behind the ears then as you are now."
Lov laughed and Nord pulled Jaxon's attention to more pressing matters. "We need a place to live, Jaxon. We need time to figure out what has happened, and fix it."
Jaxon nodded gravely, "I'll ask around, there are plenty of old empty burrows out there now that they built a proper town here. They even dug up around my lovely halfling hole, leaving me nothing but my little home in the ground to remember it by! I think they're all just jealous that mine is still sod!"
Nord laughed. "Alright, so what are we going to do tonight? You have a barn or something we can sleep in?"
Jaxon waved that away too, "Don't worry, my friend, I have plenty of blankets and pillows, you know how my back and hip can get." Jaxon clunked his mug against Nord's motioning for him to chug it. They both pounded down their meads and slammed the empty cups upon the table.
As Anna passed by, juggling three trays of food and one tray of drinks, Jaxon shouted, "More mead, Anna! Oh, and another coffee!"
They drank well into the night with Nord and Jaxon trading off on these fantastical tales. While normally Lov was an early sleeper, for some reason he was wide awake.
Nord told one about him and Amon walking to the Mouth of Truths, a holy place of knowledge for the center of what was left of human civilization. They'd gone there to study a different discipline, something Dalanar encouraged. But the journey had been long and hard. In the wilderness, while they crossed a narrow path, a huge mountain lion dropped on them in ambush. It had been a dark rust color with a black mane, and out-sized Nord by at least half of his weight. It fell off the path, dragging Amon with it. Nord had run down the side of the hill, trying to save his brother. When he reached the bottom of the hill, he found that Amon had things well in order.
He rode that cat like a wild stallion, until it had collapsed from exhaustion. The dark elf stood up, slightly dizzy from the ride, and spewed all over the poor beast.
"That's when I decided that I shouldn't fight your dad." Nord said drunkenly, waving to Anna for more mead. "He was crazy when he was angry." Lov laughed, glad to hear a story about his father, then winced at his loss. Never again would he be able to ask the wise elf for anything.
When Nord and Jaxon were well into their cups, Lov asked Anna for a dance. They danced a quick paced jaunt, then relaxed into a slow one. The woman rested her head on Lov's chest as they circled each other.
It was fun, and helped Lov push back his hunger. Anna told him he was a natural. He moved so gracefully and smoothly, Anna couldn't help but be impressed. She offered to take him to her room, and he accepted. When they made it upstairs, she closed the door and slowly started taking off her dress.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Lov asked, alarm in his voice. The only woman he had seen naked before had been his own mother. She gave a light lilting laugh, saying nothing.
She began to rub his shoulders and back. It felt so good, and Lov felt muscles he didn't even know he had relax. It creeped him out at the same time, reminding him of motions his mother would use to help him relax as a child. His hunger asked for more, wanting him to command her like a slave, but he ignored it. She reached around and began to massage his chest. Slowly her hands moved downward until they were rubbing the inside of his thighs.
"Do you wanna go for a ride?" She asked him.
He noticed that his hunger had gone silent. Alarm bells went off in his head, and he searched for any excuse to escape.
"Not until you put some clothes back on." He said pointing towards the door, "Who would ride in town naked? Don't you know to do that in the forest?" He stormed from the room and left the tavern, headed for Jaxon's and a dunk in a cold bath.
Nord watched as Lov stormed out of the door. "I wonder what happened there." He slurred drunkenly.
Jaxon looked him up and down, all but falling from his chair. "Are you serious? We're way too drunk to deal with that!" He gave a sharp hiccup and his head slammed down on the table. A light snore issued from his mouth.
That doesn't seem like a bad idea, Nord thought, then put his head down and went to sleep.