Eskil heard a stirring from the corner of the cottage and rushed to pull the cloth of his bag over the object he was holding.

“It’s all right, I’ve already seen it,” Astatine’s voice said from the shadows.

“Oh…” Eskil turned around so that his back was facing Astatine.

“I’m not going to pry too much since it seems like you wanted to keep whatever that thing is a secret,” Astatine said as stepped toward the fireplace.  “But, I’m really curious…is that an egg?”

“Um…” Eskil murmured as he held the object closer.

“Were you planning to eat it by yourself?” Astatine asked with a smile.  “Is that why you’re hiding it?”

Eskil nearly jumped and turned to face him.  “What?!  No, no!  I’m not eating this!”

“Ah, then it’s not an egg?”

“No, it is!  But…it’s not for eating…”

Astatine raised an eyebrow and sat down next to the fireplace.  “So it’s just for decoration?”

Eskil gave him a look.

Astatine smiled warmly.  “Must come from a huge bird.”

“It’s not from a bird…”

“Oh?”

“It’s from…” Eskil hesitated.  Astatine waited.

Eskil blinked a few times as he contemplated whether to go on.  He began again.

“It’s from a dragon.”

Astatine raised his eyebrows again. “A what?”

“Um…dragon…”

“What is that?”

“Huh?” Now Eskil was taken aback.  “You don’t know-?  Do they not have dragons here?”

“I’m not sure.  What do they look like?”

“They’re…” Eskil looked upward as if searching his mind for imagery.  “They’re like giant lizards…with wings…”

“Sounds wild.”

“And they breathe fire…”

“Oh…” Astatine’s eyes widened. “So…that egg contains a tiny fire-belching lizard with wings?”

Eskil smiled.  “Hope so.  I’ve been waiting…”

“Waiting?”

“For it to hatch.”

“Eh?  How long have you been waiting?”

Eskil looked up again.  “Hmm, I lost track of time.  However long I’ve been wandering.”

“You’ve been carrying that thing for years?!”

Eskil held the egg closer and laid his cheek on it.  “Mm-hmm.”

Astatine gave him a look.  “How do you know it’s not a dud?”

“Hm?”  

“Like, maybe it doesn’t even have a dragon inside, if it hasn’t hatched in all these years.  Maybe it’s just really rotten yolk.”

Eskil smiled.  “It’s possible…but I hope there’s a dragon inside.”

“Umm…are you sure?  Whatever you described sounds dangerous.  Worse than that wolf we fought.”

“Mm, perhaps.  But if I raise it, maybe it’ll be friendly to me.”

“Umm…sure…”

The fire gave a sudden crackle and sparks flew, causing Astatine to jump back a bit from the fireplace.

“Are you all right?” Eskil asked.

“Ah…it’s nothing.  Just got startled by the fire.”

Eskil gave him a confused look.  “You’re pretty fearless though.”

Astatine face flushed, although the room was dim enough that it was not obvious.

“You took on that wolf without hesitating.”

“Oh haha, yeah if you want to call that being fearless.  It was a bit reckless, in retrospect.  And you had to save me.”

“Save you?  Oh…right…”

“That lightning attack was pretty impressive.”

“Ah…that was by accident.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, I’m not really good at controlling it, so I got lucky that it worked.  Most of the time, I just use that for self-defense.”

Astatine chuckled.  Eskil looked confused.  

“You really downplay yourself, don’t you?” Astatine said.  “You say you’re not that good at controlling the lightning the same way you say you’re not that good at healing.”

“Ah…” Eskil stared at Astatine’s arms.  “How are your injuries, by the way?”

Astatine put his fingers on the tears in his sleeves.  “Completely healed actually!  Better than they were before.  I’ve had some pretty bad injuries…” He trailed off and Eskil looked concerned.  “Ah, never mind, it’s all good!”

“That’s…good to hear,” Eskil said, looking downward.  “Then, I guess I don’t have to stay for much longer…”

Astatine’s eyes widened.  “Oh!  Don’t worry about it!  Stay if you want to stay!  I mean…originally you were the one who wanted to go your own way.”

Eskil looked up.  “Yes…I did…but…”

“It’s probably better if we stick together anyway, for safety reasons.  I can fight the monsters and you can patch me up afterwards,” Astatine said with a grin.

Eskil’s face flushed and his mouth hung slightly open.

“Anyway, it’s pretty late.  Aren’t you tired?”

“A little.”

“There’s another bed frame over there.  It’s a pretty hard surface so you might want to drape something over it before lying down.  You can borrow my cloak-”

“Ah, no!  That’s fine, it’s yours, you should keep it,” Eskil said, somewhat flustered.  “I’m used to sleeping on the ground anyway, so it won’t bother me.”

“Okay,” Astatine said.  Sigh, I’m making a fool of myself again…

Eskil stood up with the egg and walked over to the bed frame that did not have Astatine’s cloak.  He laid down and turned to face the wall.  Astatine went back to his own bed frame and laid down on his cloak.  

“Eskil?”

“Hm?”

“When you were traveling across the Western Region, did you encounter any other creatures like that wolf?”

“Mmm, nothing as large as that.  There were some shadowy figures though.”

“Shadowy figures?”

“When I was sleeping outside, sometimes I’d see them in the distance.  The wind would sound eerie and I’d see these shadowy figures walking.”

“Oh…”

“They mostly just floated by though.  They didn’t bother me.  And I only started noticing them recently.  All the years before, they weren’t there.”

Astatine stared at the ceiling and furrowed his brows.  I wonder if this has to do with the Fire Goddess’ spirit no longer being around.

“Have you ever met anyone else on your journeys?” Astatine asked.

“Met anyone else?”

“Like, people you interacted with?”

There was a long pause.  “I’ve encountered other people…but they were…not as nice…”

Astatine frowned and instantly regretted asking.  A cold sinking feeling coursed through him.

“Well, you’re probably tired,” Astatine said, changing the subject.  “I’ll stop asking questions.  Good night.”

“Good night.”

The fire continued to flicker and cast dancing shadows on the wall.  Outside the cottage, the wind whistled.  Ghostly figures floated through the spaces between the trees, all heading northward.