Chp.27: Give them time
Darbi was on the deck of the ship with Gord and Brenno. The minotaur had arrived with his fleet about an hour earlier and consequently had plenty of time to drop anchor and go to meet his friends. After a quick reunion, Darbi and Gord had sent their underlings to make preparations for departure. As soon as the sun was high in the sky they would all leave together, and within a week or so they would reach the rendezvous point with the rest of the army. That was a cause for great joy for almost everyone, as no one wanted to stay in that forgotten corner of the river much longer.
Seeing Brenno again had been quite relaxing; the minotaur immediately infected everyone with his hilarity and helped Darbi momentarily forget that his family was trying to save his brother. He, Gord, and Brenno had raptly exchanged accounts of what had transpired over the past few weeks, and after making sure nothing had gone wrong, they'd decided to celebrate, as usual, with lots and lots of beer. Or rather, Brenno had decided to celebrate with beer: in fact, Gord had wanted to keep faith with his precept to stay sober at least until he was on the ships, and Darbi obviously, no matter how much he drank, was not affected in the least by the effects of alcohol. Brenno, unlike Gord, had had no qualms about drinking at least fifteen mugs: in fact, according to him, the lionmen were a people who loved to celebrate and get drunk, so his reputation would not have been affected at all by that behavior of his, on the contrary it would have benefited from it.
But unfortunately, the party had to be interrupted sooner or later. To stop her was Haku, inside the usual avatar that Darbi's siblings used to communicate with him, who had arrived asking to be able to speak privately with his brother. Darbi knew right away that something had gone wrong. And so he had discovered that Rhaegal's rescue had failed, and although Haku had assured him that their brother was fine anyway and that he had a new plan to free him, this was enough to make Darbi depressed again.
When Haku had gone Darbi had returned to his two friends, who were arguing because Brenno had thrown a mug of beer in Gord's face as an excuse to get him to drink a bit; but as soon as they saw his gloomy face, they stopped immediately and a worried expression appeared on their faces. The drunkenness seemed to fade completely from Brenno's eyes, leaving only genuine concern. "So didn't it go well?" Gord asked, who knew that the dragons were trying to free one of their brothers and that therefore the situation was very important to Darbi.
The dragon nodded with a snort. "It was the wrong place. The king managed to cheat us," he replied. "Haku said he intends to come to terms and free Rhaegal by tonight, but..."
"But you're still disappointed and worried" Brenno anticipated him.
Darbi shrugged. "Well... yes" he admitted.
The minotaur bellowed. "If I find the imbecile who's been saying dragons lack empathy and family, I swear I'll bash him with my fists. It's absolute clear that guy's never seen a dragon in his life. I know few people who have a bond as strong as the one between you and your siblings"
"Well… I appreciate the encouragement, even though technically my family and I aren't quite the normality among dragons…" Darbi muttered sincerely. In fact, the normality among the dragons wasn't much different than what Brenno had just described. "But thanks anyway"
Gord patted his arm. "Don't worry, friend. This time it went badly, it's true... but you'll see that the next one will be the good one. Your brother will be returned to you in one way or another"
"Yeah, and even if next time that asshole of a human king won't set your brother free again, I'll personally go and explain to him why he shouldn't go too far" Brenno grumbled, slamming a hoof on the deck of the ship.
Darbi smiled. Even if those words weren't exactly the best consolation, they cheered him up a lot. It was nice to see that there were people trying to help him even in their small way. "That 'asshole of a human king' still has dozens of very strong soldiers to protect him. He's not exactly easy prey" he laughed.
"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm someone who doesn't like people who annoy my friends. Shall we bet who's going to win?" Brenno replied, then he let out a burp so loud it was heard amidships. This made Gord and Darbi burst out laughing, and shortly after the minotaur, infected with laughter, joined them soon too.
The trio still spent half an hour on deck, laughing and joking. Gord and Brenno tried their best to make Darbi forget his disappointment that Rhaegal hadn't been released, and while that wasn't exactly working, Darbi appreciated their kind efforts. Gord and Brenno hated to see their friend so heartbroken: they were used to seeing Darbi as always jovial and amusing, and they were sorry that he was so depressed now. And they were disgusted by the actions of humans, too: while they knew it wasn't exactly uncommon in any race, they still despised the fact that someone had kidnapped a brother to force his family to do as he wanted. Gord found it a mean move and Brenno a cowardly move. They would have done something themselves if they could, but they knew they had no way to help Darbi; even if they had had the strength to face the human king and his defenses, they were still several tens of kilometers away from the place where that man was, and unfortunately they didn't have a way to cover those distances in an instant as they had done when they had fled the arena. They could therefore only stay close to Darbi and try to cheer him up as much as possible. After all, that was what friends were for.
One way or another, time passed and soon preparations for sailing seemed to be nearly complete. Darbi, Gord and Brenno, however, preferred to wait for the sun to be high enough, since this would have allowed them to better exploit the winds that as soon as the solar disk rose high enough began to blow near the river. Darbi once had wondered why this phenomenon happened always at that hour, but had quickly forgotten to look for an answer; after all, it was Haku who always wanted to know everything, not him.
As preparations for departure were completed, Darbi noticed that several children, the elderly, the wounded, and other weaklings were beginning to crowd onto the deck. This is because they would have traveled in the upper part of the ships: in this way they would have been less subject to the strong waves that broke on the hull. The normal lizardmen, tigermen and lionmen were not affected by the effect of navigation, but the weak categories of their races were more susceptible, therefore Darbi had arranged for the strongest to travel in the lower part of the ships and the weakest on the upper part. Apparently there hadn't been many objections, and now so people were dividing themselves in the way they were told. Men in Darbi's service were coordinating this distribution, and ex-slaves were helping out by escorting children, supporting the elderly, or making sure the wounded didn't get hurt.
Misune was also among them, and she was managing quite a large group of children. But suddenly something seemed to attract her attention and she lowered, as if she were talking to one of them. Darbi could have eavesdropped, but decided to give the woman her privacy. But a little later Misune walked towards him, followed by the children. Luckily the parents weren't present at that moment, or they would have freaked out seeing their children approaching a dragon. Darbi didn't understand, at least until the children stopped about three meters away from him, evidently too scared to continue, but Misune instead continued detaching herself from the group and taking with her a little tigerman girl who held her hand. Darbi recognized Stephanie, the little girl he had helped a few days earlier. "Hello" the little girl greeted him.
"Uh… hello" Darbi muttered, unsure of what he had to do, and almost instinctively he took a couple of steps to get in front of Brenno, not wanting the kids to see the half-drunk minotaur, which made Gord cackle like a fool. "Why are you here...?"
"Stephanie wanted to tell you something" Misune replied with a big smile. "She asked me to take her to you"
Stephanie took a couple of small steps forward, which for a girl her size didn't even equal a meter. "Here... thanks for the other day, and sorry about my parents" she said, and handed him a small flower-like object, but it was made from a round stone with grass stalks attached to it, twisted together to form of the petals.
Darbi was confused, but Gord, who was more knowledgeable than Darbi in tigemen lore, came to his aid. "It's a stone of fortune" he whispered in Darbi's ear. "It's a tradition of my country, people give it to others as a gesture of appreciation. It means they're really grateful for your gesture"
"Oh, I see" the dragon said taking the stone. It was a really beautiful trinket, and it was clear that the little girl had put in the effort to make it. "Thank you. It's really great"
Stephanie twirled her thumbs, then she asked: "Uh... can I touch your body one more time? I'm cold..."
Darbi knew the little girl wasn't really cold, also because it was the middle of summer. Her purpose was to be able to feel again that warmth that Darbi had used to comfort her when she first came to him. "Of course. Go ahead" he told her, and immediately Stephanie closed the distance between them and leaned on the dragon's side, opening her arms as if she wanted to hug him despite the difference in size. Darbi smiled and lightly nuzzled her head with a paw, making her smile slightly.
The other children watched the scene with indecipherable eyes, then a small lizardman came forward. "Um... mister dragon, can I touch you too?"
The children were scared, but they were also extremely curious. It was their nature to want to interact with the world in any way possible, even if it could be dangerous. Even though their parents had warned them not to go near the dragon, there was a desire inside of them to be able to touch that scaly skin. From their point of view Darbi was like a huge lizard and everyone wondered how it would feel to the touch.
Darbi nodded and let the little lizardman approach too. Soon other children also asked to come near him, and eventually all of them did. The number was so great that some clambered over others to get close enough. While it was unlikely they would reach this high, Darbi took no chances and turned ninety degrees, thus away from the sharp spines and bony plates on his back and letting them touch only the soft scales of his belly.
Misune, Brenno and Gord laughed when they saw that scene. "You look like a giant kitty!" the minotaur said looking at the weird position of the dragon.
"S-Shut up! It's embarrassing!" Darbi exclaimed, blushing visibly and trying not to meet anyone's eyes.
His three friends found this behavior a bit strange. "Wait... are you really uncomfortable doing this?" Misune asked confused. From her point of view it wasn't such a terrible thing...
"Well... from a dragon's point of view, showing the belly is quite humiliating. It's like you guys walking around naked. The belly is our most vulnerable part, so by showing it we feel stripped of all our defenses" Darbi explained.
"Seriously? I thought you were armored above and below by your scales" Gord said.
"That's right, but in my back I'm also protected by the bones of my spine. My belly, on the other hand, is only protected by my scales" Darbi answered. "So showing it, for a dragon, is something very, very uncomfortable"
"In that case, let me save you from this embarrassing situation" Brenno said as he stood up and walked in front of the children. "Hey, brats! Wanna see something cool? Here you go!" and with that he took Misune and, ignoring her protests, he lifted her into the air with one hand. The children cheered ecstatically, amazed by such strength. The minotaur smiled proudly and set Misune down, who seemed to be undecided whether to slap or kick him. "Very well! Who wants to be lifted now?" he asked. Needless to say, dozens of little hands rose all at once, and children began to climb onto his enormous shoulders.
Darbi was finally able to get back on all fours, thus returning to a more comfortable position for him. Gord patted him on the shoulder. "See? I told you. You don't have to do anything. People will understand that you're good. These kids have understood it, and soon adults will too. You just have to give them time"
Darbi smiled, then her eyes widened slightly. "You're right, Gord… I don't have to do anything" he said in a voice that was suddenly sure and determined. "Thanks, buddy. Now I know what to do"
"But didn't you just say you didn't have to…oh, dunno. The important thing to me is that you don't get into trouble" Gord said. After spending so much time in the company of dragons, he had grown accustomed to their bizarre behavior.