Chapter 8

"I was just taking pictures?" She replied as she held up her phone to show the dragon that was all she was doing. Eirwin seemed to relax slightly when she told him this.

"I thought that everything was beautiful in here and wanted to document it for a latter point in time." She clarified as she turned to continue looking at the collecting, putting her phone back into the jacket pocket so that she didn't have to worry about it freezing.

"Is there a particular reason as to why you would be interested in such things?" Eirwin asked as he stepped further into the room.

"To be honest, considering this is the first time I've met an ice dragon before, I was curious to know more about them." Heather replied as she turned back around while continuing to explaining her reasoning to the other.

"From previous experience, I have found that the best way to get a better idea of the personality and the behavior of the dragon, it's best to analyze the things they hoard since it tends to be what is most precious to them and says a lot about their personality." in response to this, Eirwan gave her a look that spoke of the level of disapproval he had for what she had just said.

"This is where the problem with humans lie." He started as he came to stand closer to Heather.

"When you refer to something that a human enjoys collecting, it's referred to as a collection and they are labeled "Collectors". But when it comes us dragons doing the exact same behavior you refer to us as "Hoarders". Can you see what the problem is?" He asked, standing fully in front of her now. Heather wasn't sure how to respond to this, because Eirwin had point. Seeing that she wasn't going to respond, he continued speaking.

"Tell me miss Jennings, does it look like I'm hoarding anything in this room?" the hiss when he said the 's' on the end of her last name was more pronounced then before, he must've been annoyed. Heather glanced around the room before she replied.

"Not really, it looks like almost any other collection I've come across." She admitted as looked back at the dragon.

"Exactly. So for future reference, I would prefer if you addressed it as a collection and me a collector the same way you would any other person." He told her as he moved around her to look at the gems in the case.

"While it is true that many of the things in this room are indeed very important to me, it doesn't mean that I never part with them for important reasons nor do I take anymore than I need." He told her as he ran his hands over the top of the glass case, she was rather surprised to see that there was no smudge left after he did this.

"As gifts or thank you for friends and others who have assisted me in the past, I have no problem parting with something from this collection that catches their fancy. I pay a fair price for what I get and I rarely take more than one unless I am aware of how common they are." Eirwin coughed slightly as he finished speaking and she didn't miss the puff of mist that followed.

"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful of the language that I use in the future." She told him honestly feeling a little guilty by the plain way she had spoken about the collection. It had always been such a common reference to her that she really didn't think that there was anything wrong with it until he pointed it out.

"I would appreciate that, especially if we are going to be working together a lot." He told her as he turned back around again, hearing as Alfred had reentered the room.

"Speaking of that, there are a few questions that I would like to ask in relation to working with you." Heather replied glancing between the dragon and his servant.

"I would guess that it is about how I managed to transform back to my previous form?" He inquired, walking in the direction that Alfred was standing, he knew that the other being there meant that it was time for lunch.

"That and I'm also curious to know how Alfred doesn't seem to be bothered by the cold since he looks very much human like me?" She caught the ghost of a smirk on Eirwin's face as he glanced back at her.

"That is a good question. One that I will allow for Alfred to answer if you will follow after us since lunch is ready." The dragon replied as he started to walk away, Alfred trailing slowly behind him as he waited for Heather to catch up in order to answer her question.

"You see miss, the longer that you're here, the more you'll realize that not everything is as it seems." He told her causing her to give him a questioning look as he lead her in the direction that he knew Eirwin had left in.

"You're not human then?" She asked carefully while looking him over again.

"I'm not human but I'm not exactly not human at the same time." He explained.

"I'm sure since it seems like you have decent knowledge of mystical creatures that you would happen to know what a wendigo is?" He asked turning his head to look at her when he noticed that she had stopped in her tracks.

"You can't be serious?" She replied looking at his face for any traces of a joke or that he was lying about that. As far as she could tell, there wasn't anything about this person that marked him as a wendigo.

"No lie at all miss. You probably didn't notice anything about me because I've worked very hard over the years to make any trace that would indicate me as wendigo disappear. Not only that, but I'm what one might call a 'lesser wendigo' as I don't happen to be of pure blood. But for you, I shall prove it." Heather took a step back when Alfred turned to face her completely. Without warning his eyes suddenly glowed white and when he opened his mouth she could see the rows of glinting sharp teeth that could easily tear any flesh that was unfortunate enough to get trapped between them.