He relented and taught me how to use an ax. I feel so much better being able to help him and not burden him with my care. I’m feeling far better about myself now than I ever did back home. My body is gaining strength I hadn’t needed back home with all of our tech that made our lives so easy. Here everything must be done without extra technology, like lighting a fire to heat the cabin or simple cooking. There’s a lot of spices available and he’s been showing me so many new things. He’s careful to explain the dangerous things so I don’t accidentally ingest a poison or use something excessively dangerous as a tool.

He says he’s going to be going hunting again this afternoon and I’ve asked if I can go. He said I wasn’t allowed because I’m not yet sure enough with the ax and I haven’t learned how to use the bow, which he calls a croonari. The croonari isn’t strung, it gains a string with the attachment to the hand of the archer and control with a wristlet that reminds me of a watch band. The sword he calls a ponderoh, it looks like a normal sword but as soon as he lifts it, there’s a light purple glow to the edge and he won’t let me touch it while he’s holding it. When he lets go of the sword, the blade has no sharpness whatsoever. It’s blunted to the point you could leave an infant on it safely. 

I accept my fate of waiting for him to return, and go back to splitting the wood for the fire for a while, getting a goodly sized pile. He came out of the cabin ready to go hunting, croonari slung over his shoulder with the arrows that he calls ‘croons’ in a case behind him, one longsword strapped to his back, and one on his hip. He’s got no less than six knives strapped around himself and he’s wearing a breastplate that looks to have seen far better days. “Going to battle? I thought you were going hunting?” I laughed to him. 

“I am dressed for hunting!” his cheeks flush as I laugh, “Garna do not play fair. You have to hit them with a croon first then practically behead them before you can bring them down. They’re not small beasts.” He fiddled nervously with his shirt sleeve. “Are you going to be ok here alone?”

“Of course. I’ll just work on some drawings while you’re gone. You should be back by nightfall right?”

“Yes, but I don’t like leaving you.” 

I felt the heat rise to my cheeks, turning away for a moment with the excuse of moving the wood to the stack beside the door. “That’s why I asked to go with you. But you say it isn’t safe.” 

“It’s not, garna are very dangerous beasts. And I know you love the garna skin, from the day you woke, you were stroking its fur.” 

That giant pelt with the fire engine red hair was from a garna? It was immense! “You’re going after something that big on foot??” 

“Not exactly, I’ll be riding a drook.” 

“A what now?”

“A drook. It’s a four legged beast we use to ride as a knight. It’s naturally armored and has a powerful tail. My armored shirt is made from drook scales.” I’d seen his armored shirt, and thought it was made from metal scales, not animal. “I haven’t brought my drook around the house because they’re tricky to control even for a skilled knight,” Grone was looking shy again. How did someone so big and obviously strong look like a little boy? 

I walked to him and stroked his cheek, “You don’t have to worry about me. I’d love to meet your drook and help you hunt. Maybe you can teach me later how to use the ponderoh and croonari so I can go with you.” I grinned at him and moved to put away the ax, but before I could go far, thick arms wrapped around my body and he pulled me close.

“I will teach you, Adelheide,” he whispered into my neck as he held me. He’d not done so before, but I didn’t mind being held. I lifted my hand to stroke his beard, letting him stretch out the contact and silently reveling in his embrace. Don’t hugs like this mean someone wants to keep you around? I really hoped that’s what it meant, but I said nothing as my heart raced. After a few moments, he let me go and turned me to him, “I will return by nightfall, Shilona,” then he kissed my forehead, something he hadn’t done before. I stared at him with my mouth hanging open a little, he smiled and walked to the large barn across the property. 

I hadn’t been in that building yet, no need when we’ve been mostly just in the house the whole of the weeks I’ve been here so far. I watched and after a few minutes, he led a huge lizard from the barn. 

Holy crap, they have dragons! 

This lizard had four legs and a long tail and was wearing a saddle across its shoulders. Five ten-inch talons ended each of its limbs, and a pair of horns about a foot and a half long rose above its vivid blue eyes. Grone put his foot on the drook’s foreleg and swung up into the saddle. The drook roared, Grone slapped its neck and grinned, “Good boy, Boondo. Good boy. Ready to get some garna?” The drook stamped its feet, raising dust. Grone looked to me and waved again, then turned the drook to the north and they shot off. 

Dragons. That’s the only thing my mind could figure out. A dragon that you ride. This is going to be very interesting indeed. I went inside to work on some minor housekeeping and rekindle the fire. Several hours passed while I was doing minor cleaning and cooking when I heard the stamp of the drook’s feet coming near. I walked to the door, watching as Grone leapt off the drook and pulled at a gargantuan red body draped over its back. So yeah, bench pressing horses wasn’t out of the ordinary. The beast he was dragging from the drook had bright red fur that was long and flowing and two horns that spread from a wide forehead like a longhorn steer’s horns. Each one spread out and then curved forward. The head carried separate from the body, as Grone had said to kill it, it had to be beheaded after being shot with the croons. The beast was huge, a little larger than a hippo. 

Grone was leading the drook back into the barn as I loped to the barn to help him out and check out this giant beast he’d brought back. The drook apparently wasn’t prepared for my arrival and reared its head, roaring towards me. Grone held its lead tightly, but the tail whipped out towards me, I raised my hands, shouting in english, “STOP.” and the tail stopped an inch from my face. Grone and I both stared at one another. What the hell had just happened, the drook obeyed me?