Teeth and Talon (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Nineteen

As it turns out Kal would not need to be converting Nazaverts office into a second room after all. At least, not for the moment.

Felliot offered for Jerred to stay with him and Jula, since the younger man had a second bed for Jula that the child rarely used. She preferred to sleep on the ground in front of the fireplace; Jula was born during winter and her mother was found dead with her in the snow two years later. It was understandable that she hated being cold.

Jerred, the poor man, was stunned as ever that he even had a mate. After losing one wife, Kal suspected it would be a long time yet till Jerred accepted that Felliot was there for him.

The feast was as quiet as Kal had ever seen it. Usually it was full of talking even when most did not know each other. Now, it was silent and Kal resisted the urge to let that silence get to him.

A few feasts ago, they had moved the affair outside and now what filled the air was the fire crackling, night bugs chirping, and occasional fox call.

For a feast was all it was called, it was mostly just enough food for everyone to have a plate. They were running low on grains and would be waiting until the late autumn harvest of a small field next to what was Razania's old house. The fruits and vegetables from the earlier harvest were mostly pickled or preserved for the coming winter. Meat was really the only thing they were in abundance of.

It happened, that meat was not something that a village of dragons would turn down as their main source of food. Kal ran through his first plate of fish easily.

Though now that the day was ending and whatever little conversation the dragons were alright with saying in front of Frena dried out, the silence was thick across the tables.

As much as Kal hated that silence, he also was not one to usually talk during the feasts. He made up for his silence later on when he spoke to everyone individually. Yet now, he felt perhaps he should say something so at the least it was not quiet.

"S-So, Yaren, Frena, which route did you take from Vragad? I know for some dragons it differed..." Kal asked quietly, Nazaverts hand on his leg the only thing keeping him from being too anxious.

"Oh, well, we actually went along the east coast. Yaren still had trouble with controlling his eyes back then and there were less hunters that far away. We did have a head start though, since my husband told us to flee before the Battle of Lilis." Frena smiled stiffly, likely due to the mention of her lost husband, and took a drink of ale.

"Right, I am sure that the others who took that route should be here soon too. I forgot others went that way." Kal hummed, already thinking of the timing and when, in a broad range, would these dragons be coming.

"We did not go all the way to the coast, but we did go closer into Mrethith. It was far safer." Finally, someone besides Kal was talking to Frena, Bestla making a comment that had Kal internally sighing with relief.

Just one other person, a dragon at that, speaking to the human was enough to have the others calm. Kal did not have to even say anything else if he did not want to as the others told of the routes they took and how it was much safer to do so.

If only Kal and Kaida had taken the longer way to get to Dresath, perhaps such bad things would not have happened so often. Still, the past was the past and he could not change that.

As the night went on, Kal sat quietly with Nazavert and Grennan at each of his sides. His plate was long empty and his stomach full, yet he stayed and listened to the group talk pleasantly. The cup of ale he was sipping at was almost empty by the time they all decided to turn in for the night.