Defenders of Equestria

Eric, Liz, and Gaz stood in front of a small cave entrance, icicles hung from the top of the mouth, and they could just barley see the back of the cave through the darkness. After there talk, the Princess’s had offered to teleport them to there new home right away, but not before warning of the extreme cold outside the entrance and casting a protection from elements spell on the three.

Eric was glad they had offered them that courtesy given that they had next found themselves on top of a mountain, and though the snow flurry's and howling wind told him that he should have frozen the minute he had ended up here, yet the princess’s spell kept him felling as warm and comfortable as he had back at Ponyville.

“What is this? Some kind of joke!” Gaz had walked inside the cave and felt along the back wall that lay just a few feet within. “Damn horses, should have known they would trick us, now we will freeze to death up here!” Gaz fumed and Eric walked in to examine the wall, thinking that a door had to be camouflaged somewhere along the stone wall.

After a few minutes of searching he could find no entrance to there supposed home, and he felt the familiar feeling of his rage begin to rise up. “Those damn bitch’s tricked us! Well there in for a surprise when I climb down this fucking mountain and make a rug out of there hides!” Eric flew into a rage and, with no enemy's to attack nearby, settled for kicking the stone wall in anger.

“Why would they protect us from the cold, if they intended to kill us?” Liz reasoned but this did nothing to calm the two men who were loudly cursing. Liz sighed at her friend’s antics. She loved them dearly, they were like family, but Eric’s anger problems and Gaz’s impatience meant she was often the one to solve the many puzzles and problems that had challenged them throughout there adventure’s.

Liz calmly walked into the small cave and glanced around for any signs that this was there new home and not just a final resting place for them. It did not take long for her to notice that the back wall Eric was still kicking in anger was just a little too smooth to be a natural occurrence, that and the addition of a hollow sound that came from Eric’s attacks made it obvious to Liz that there new home lay behind the false cave wall.

Now it was just a matter of figuring out how to open it. This took a little longer then noticing the wall had but it was still easy enough to see that something was buried under the snow that had covered the inner walls of the cave. Liz knocked the snow off the object that had been jutting out awkwardly near the entrance, and found a metal torch that had been buried under the snow. An odd place for a torch, considering the snow and wind would quickly blow out any attempt to light it, and Liz noticed some writing under it.

“A flame as bright as the sun’s rays and as eternal as the moon’s light, will light the way home…”

A simple enough riddle and Liz had no trouble figuring it out, she thought about asking Gaz and Eric to come over and try and solve it, she frequently asked them how she had figured a puzzle out before she let them move on in dungeons, she found it entertained her, but she could feel the cold air outside start to affect her scales, and knew the protection spell would not last much longer.

Liz snapped her fingers as she lit the torch with an eternal flame, and the wall Eric had been kicking began to slide down, much to her companions surprise. They both looked toward Liz and gave a silent thank you with there eye’s before running inside to see what lay in wait. She rolled her eyes those two would have died long ago without her help, but she supposed, the reverse also held true, there skills in combat often allowed her the time needed to solve a riddle or cast a large spell.

“Come on Liz! This place is amazing!” Eric called to her and she smiled, and began to walk deeper into the newly revealed torch-lit hall, but not before looking back to see the wall begin to close. It occurred to her, as far as she knew, that they had no way to leave this place, and she began to worry about the future as she often did, before another call from Eric stirred her from her thoughts.

“Coming!” Liz called back and began walking towards the down-ward’s staircase at the end of the short hall, looking down it she saw it did not descend very far and she could see the beginnings of a bright large room at the landing. She descended and saw an amazing sight.

The large room was simple in terms of decoration but still amazing none the less. The walls were lined with bookshelf's that were filled with every kind of book Liz could think of, and quite a few she couldn’t. There was a shelf of Ancient spellbooks next to one containing simple children’s stories. Every book in the world of Mystera’s history seemed to not only be here but perfectly organized by genre and name as well.

The Logical side of Liz thought of how all these book’s had gotten up here and who had brought them? But that was quickly replaced by the scholar in her who was simply filled with child-like glee at the thought of all the history that lie in the room. It took her quite a bit of constraint to forget her friends, lie on one of the nearby comfy-looking couches and start reading everything that the room held.

“Yeah I figured this room would be a quick favorite of yours.” Liz turned to see Eric sitting on one of the many recliners in the room, He had a smile on his face. “You know that little gasp you gave when you came in here sure was cute. How come you don’t do that kind of stuff more often?” he said playfully, and Liz was very glad that she was incapable of blushing.

“I…” She wasn’t sure how to answer that question and she felt her embarrassment grow even more. Was he really flirting with her? Had he ever done that before? She found she couldn’t remember whether he had or not.

“You know you look like you would be blushing really hard were you able too.” Liz gave a nervous gulp, why couldn’t he be that observant when it came to puzzle solving? She knew why of course, as powerful as he was in battle it was really nothing more then simple rage, and though his intelligence was above average he was by no means a genius. No, his charm and charisma were the real reason he was the leader of there little group, but she could never recall him using it so… flirtatiously before now.

“Where’s Gaz?” she asked, trying to change the subject, she had never really thought of Eric in a romantic way, even after all there close calls with death in the years they had traveled together, still she found herself hoping that he would shrug it off and continue his advances.

“He ran off to explore some more, would you like to go find him?” He asked, apparently seeing the unsureness in her face. What he had really asked was whether she wanted this to continue and lead to wherever it led, or to simply go off in search of there friend, and more then likely forget this had ever happened. Liz looked into Eric’s face, his eye’s told her that he would be fine with whatever choice she made, and she couldn’t help but think what a gentleman he was.

“No, I think he’ll be fine.” Liz gave a seductive smile and practically leapt into Eric’s strong arms. He smiled at her, clearly happy at her choice, and she gave him a passionate kiss. She had never known these feelings for him had been inside her, but looking back she could tell she had always had feeling’s for him. His armor was cold against her scales, but she found she didn’t care, that it would cease to be an issue before to long. The two newfound lovers quickly found themselves a bedroom and started the night’s activity’s.

***

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” He said between breaths. She looked at him love in her eyes, they lay there in the large bed they had found, there arms wrapped around each other, relishing each other’s warmth.

“Why did you wait so long to make your move?” she said with a smirk.

“Because I figured you were to smart to fall for my tricks.” He said with a chuckle.

“Apparently I wasn’t, but it’s definitely the best trick I’ve ever fallen for.” She grinned.

“I take it you enjoyed yourself then?”

“As if my screams couldn’t tell you that, really I would be surprised if Gaz wasn’t out there worried about you murdering me or something.” They both laughed.

“So why now? I mean you’ve obviously had feeling’s for me for awhile.” Eric’s smile faded a little.

“That trap the ponies had tripped on us, I knew we weren’t making it out of that, I thought for sure they would kill us, thought they had killed us to be honest. All I could see when we were turned to stone was, well nothing I guess, but I was still conscious, couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, all I could do was think.”

“You were still conscious?” Liz was confused. she hadn’t felt anything when she was in her prison, had only vaguely recognized she had been petrified at all. It was just that one moment when she saw that spell hit her, and the next moment she had been there with the Princesses.

“You weren’t?” Liz shook her head. “Good, I wouldn’t wish that kind of hell on my worst enemy. I was in there for a long time, it hadn’t felt like 2,000 years but I suppose It must have been, maybe I got lucky and tricked myself into thinking it was only 200…” Eric looked somber and Liz realized he had been talking about there imprisonment as if it was long ago from the very beginning, before they had been told how long it had really been.

“How did you stay sane?”

“Simple, after awhile I realized that I wasn’t dead, just frozen. I could still hear the outside world somehow, and it didn’t take long for me to realize we had been put on display in the castle garden. Anyway hearing that you and Gaz were still alive filled me with enough hope to make it through, we would make it out of this, I knew that, we had survived to many things to become some horse’s lawn ornaments.”

“Also, I knew you had no idea about how I felt about you, and I wasn’t going lose my mind without at least telling you about it, so when we were set free I wanted to tell you right then and there, but I waited for when we could speak alone.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Eric shrugged and gave a warm smile.

“It’s in the past now, I’m just happy you and Gaz made it through the whole thing with me, especially you.” She smiled at him, loving the feeling of being needed. “We three have been through so much, I would feel horrible if Gaz was dead, but without you, I don’t want to even imagine it. That sounds awful too me, to favor one of you over the other, but I guess even a mother has a favorite child.” Liz had no problem being the favorite of Eric’s, would probably be mad if she wasn’t, especially after tonight, but she still found it sweet that he worried about possibly upsetting the balance all three of them shared.

“How about your little guy, huh?” Eric changed the subject to something he knew would brighten the mood. “Funny how the same ponies that almost killed us kept him alive all these years, don't you think?” Liz beamed in pride at the thought of her son.

“I find it funny that he adapted so easily to there customs, usually you cant get a baby draco to stop chewing on everything, alive or not.” Liz implicated and Eric thought grimly that the little guy could have easily taken a chunk out of some pony and that they would have more then likely killed him for it.

“Do you think I was right in leaving him there with them?” she asked and he felt glad that she wanted his advice on raising her son.

“Yeah I think he’s happy there, in fact I can pretty much see how his life is going to turn out.” Eric said with sureness, and Liz looked at him disbelievingly. “If he’s anything like his mother, the call for adventure is sure to reach him, and you and I both know that that is a hard call to resist.” Liz looked surprised.

“I never thought of him putting himself in the danger like we do, I guess I didn’t want too, but your right I could see it in his eye’s after I had told him what the Princess’s had wanted, for just a brief moment I could see that he wanted to join us.” She looked unsure about her son’s lust for adventure.

“I know you don’t like the idea of him putting himself in danger, I know my mother certainly wasn’t thrilled at the idea when I told her what I was setting off to do, but you know just as well as I do, once it has you in it’s grasp it never lets go. And besides…” Eric looked around at the large nicely decorated bedroom. “We seem to be doing pretty well in our chosen profession, I have no doubt he’ll be even better at it then we are.” Liz smiled at Eric glad he was here for her, and wrapped him in a hug which he returned.

“I wonder if he’ll study magic like I did?” Liz said smiling at the thought of her son following in the footsteps of his mother.

“Well have to visit him sometime so we can teach him what we know.” Eric said soothingly, and Liz found that to be a wonderful idea, she remembered when she had taken her first steps into the realm of the arcane, amazed at how much wonder she had felt.

Liz had nothing more to say, and apparently neither did Eric. She lay in his warm embrace, thinking of the love she felt for not only the human lying next to her but also that which belonged to her beautiful son Spike, the thought’s of her and Eric passing there knowledge to the young Draco filled her with joy and she soon found herself asleep, a smile never leaving her face the rest of the night.

***

The next morning Liz and Eric awoke still face-to-face with each other and gave each other a quick good morning kiss before getting dressed. Liz put her simple purple robe back on, and Eric in a fit of curiosity, checked the closet to see to his surprise a large variety of cloths that seemed to be specially tailored for him lined up on one side with a large amount of dresses and robes for Liz lined up on the other.

While Liz had been awestruck at the apparent complexity of the magic this place held, Eric simply shrugged it off, he had never understood the lessons into magical theory Liz had tried to give him, and as such any magic, no matter how amazing, was usually viewed as nothing more then a means of convenience for the human. Still they had both chosen to replace there original vestments with the much nicer cloths in the magical closet, Eric choosing a simple cloth gray shirt and matching pants and Liz choosing a nice dress of her favorite color, pure purple.

The two opened there door to find a frowning Gaz leaning against the wall across from there door.

“Well nice of you two to leave Gaizo out here alone last night!” He gave a snobbish grunt and held his nose up high. Eric and Liz simply laughed at there friend’s antics, and after Gaz noticed that the two had come out of the same room together, he put on a large smile. “Gaizo forgives you though, it would appear my two friend’s have become something more since Gaizo had last seen them.”

Eric and Liz gave a bashful laugh, both surprised at there normally slow-witted friend’s observation, and Gaz simply looked at them with an approving smile.

“How about you Gaz, did you have too much trouble finding a bed last night?” Eric asked a little guilty about how they had left him out here.

“As a matter of fact Gaizo had much trouble, our new home is huge my friend’s! It took Gaizo well into the night to see all it had to offer.” Gaz had been making his typical exaggerated hand gestures through the explanation, and Liz and Eric had to suppress there snickers. “But enough for now! Gaizo is very hungry and he is sure his friend’s will agree to come join him for breakfast.”

Eric and Liz’s stomach both growled as if on cue, and Gaz gave them a wink. “Well I suppose we haven’t eaten since… well since we were set free, kinda odd how we hadn’t noticed.” Eric scratched his chin, wondering how he hadn’t noticed the hunger that had now become painfully noticeable.

“Well come then, Gaizo knows you will be greatly enjoy what the kitchen offers us.” Gaz began to walk down the hall that lead to there bedroom’s, led them through a cozy living area, and into a small dining area that held a simple round table with four padded chairs circling it. The table had already been set with plates and silverware, and Liz couldn’t help but once again wonder. Where all these things had come from and who had placed them here? The fact that they lacked the signs of age and looked brand new did not help matters any, and she thought for a crazy moment that what if there was some kind of hermit up here, living with them? What would they do if they found they had unwelcome guests? What-

Eric noticed Liz had a panicked look on her face and he quickly put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“What’s wrong Liz?” he gave a look of concern and she instantly felt better at her lover’s comforting actions.

“Nothing, just letting my imagination get the better of me again.” She laughed it off, yet his face did not lose it’s worried gaze.

“Are you sure? When you tell me that, it usually means you’ve noticed something is wrong.” He gave a warm smile. “And every time it ends up being more then your imagination. You’re smarter then we are Liz-”

“Hey!” Gaz who at this point had just been watching the two converse, suddenly spoke up at the apparent insult. Eric shot a glance over at him and he quited down seeing that this was not the time for his dramatics.

“We would have died long ago if it wasn’t for your intelligence-” She gave him a loving look at the compliment. “So if somethings wrong you can tell us.”

“Well, don’t you guys wonder how this table got set up?” Liz pointed towards the rather expensive-looking silverware.

“I just assumed it was magic.” Eric said and Gaz nodded in agreement. Liz rolled her eyes at her friends lack of knowledge when it came to the workings of magic.

“It doesn’t work that way, magic can’t just spontaneously do things, it has to be controlled by someone, otherwise it’s nothing more then energy floating around in the air. The closet in our room can be explained as some really complex calculations set to go off whenever the door is opened, even then someone had to have provided the cloths that would appear, but thats besides the point, what I'm saying is the table setting itself makes no sense. how could it have known we, or anyone for that matter, would ever set foot in here? It’s clearly not been set for very long, there’s no dust, but theres signs that it’s been somewhere else before it ended up here.”

Eric looked at the plates on the table and now that he was actively looking, he could see tiny smudges on the edges that suggested someone had brought them here. Eric’s eye’s grew wide.

“Someone’s in here with us!” Gaz who had zoned out during Liz’s speech, jumped at Eric’s outburst and attempted to draw his sword only to find it wasn’t there.

“Yes, and whoever they are, they are either friendly enough to prepare things for us, such as the table, and they simply haven’t shown themselves yet. Or they do not know we are here and have been living on, unaware of there new guests.” Liz finished and the three friends huddled together, suddenly uninterested in thoughts of eating, and very certain that they were being observed.

“Gaizo is suddenly not so sure he likes our new home.” Gaz said, the fear almost palpable in his voice, Eric suddenly felt very horrible about leaving his friend alone last night, what if he had been ambushed by there mysterious squatter?

“We need to find a way out of here…” Eric took on his role of leader, no fear in his voice, which surprised him. “Whoever this person is, they have the advantage of knowing this place, and we are in no condition for a fight right now.”

“Agreed.” Liz said voice full of cation.

“Yes, Gaizo found a room last night that seemed to be for teleporting out of here…” Gaizo said before getting a look of embarrassment. “Of course Gaizo was very tired last night, he could be mistaken, and he only vaguely remembers the location of this room.” Eric sighed, why couldn’t it ever be simple?

“Well it’s the only chance we have, we should go now, do you remember anything at all about where to-”

“Oh Deekin knows where map room is!" A shrill child-like voice called out. Gaz let out a very high pitched scream and whirled around to the source of the voice, and Eric and Liz, while not quite as scared as there kitsune ally, still cautiously turned to see what was behind them.

The three stared at the tiny brown-scaled creature, who had a big sharp grin on his large snout. Despite the intimidating set of teeth that filled his smile, his eye’s held no hate or anger in them, instead they seemed to have a look that said the little creature only wished to serve and please.

Eric quickly composed himself and decided to attempt to parlay with the creature that was apparently the hermit they had only just been discussing.

“Greeting’s erm…” Eric stuttered trying to think of a way to address the still smiling lizard like humanoid. It was not a creature he was familiar with, it shared similarities to a Draco but it had a far bigger snout and despite appearing short, he sensed this little person was fully grown.

“Hello there, did you say your name was Deekin?” Liz had taken over for Eric who had apparently forgotten the little creature had given his name already.

“Yes Giant Girl Kobold, I am Deekin, teller of epic tales, and singer of songs.” Liz didn’t know what a Kobold was but he hadn’t said it as an insult so she decided to ignore it for now and try to appeal to the little one’s apparent interests.

“So you’re a bard then?” Liz said remembering the traveling singers that she and her friend’s had often spoke to after hearing there tales of great treasure hidden away somewhere nearby. Deekin’s face grew excited at the title she had guessed at.

“Yes, that be what old master call me.” Suddenly Deekin frowned. “Deekin miss old master, me wonders where he is now…”

“Who was your old master?” Liz asked, her fear was gone now, the little Deekin didn’t seem to want to hurt them, in fact he seemed quite lonely to her.

“He was great human hero named Ivan, he look like that human except his hair was bright and not dark and black.” Deekin pointed a claw at Eric.

“What are you little guy?” Eric’s fear had also gone, though he would never admit it, he found Deekin’s mannerisms adorable, and he could tell he was going to like the little lizard.

“Me Kobold…” Deekin paused in thought “Deekin not really sure what more to say then that, he just glad that he have some peoples to talk too.” So that was why he had called her a Kobold, Liz thought, he thought she was a member of his people.

“How long have you been up here?” Liz asked

“Deekin lose track after two years.” Was all he said and seeing the shocked look on there faces quickly added. “It OK though food never seem to run out in this place, and Deeking love to read stories in library!”

Gaizo who had been very quiet through out this whole meeting decided to ask his own question.

“Gaizo wonder’s why you chose to wait to make yourself known, surely you were desperate for company after so long.”

“Hey Fox-man talks like Deekin!” Deekin said excitedly at noticing Gaz like talking in the third person too. Gaz gave a smile, he was glad the little creature was finally warming up to him after he had been eying him wearily through the whole talk. After Deekin calmed down and was reminded of the question he gave a surprising answer.

“Deekin had been scared at first of powerful looking heroes, but then Deekin see Kobold lady and human mate and decided you were good peoples.” Deekin said innocently, and Liz and Eric both gave a look of embarrassment as Gaz let out a loud laugh.

“Oh Gaizo likes little lizard man! Tell me Deekin? How did you know they were good people from watching them mate?” Gaz gave a wicked grin to his companions, who were glaring at him.

“Because Human male actually care about the fun his mate was having, old master cared too, and he was most heroic person Deekin knows! Like, old master and this human both like to use there mouths on-”

“That’s enough Deekin!” Eric cut him off sternly, and Liz was staring very hard at the ground.

“Oh right Deekin forgets that big people’s don’t like talking about mating. Deekin not understand, but he not talk about it anymore unless you wants to.” Gaz opened his mouth to say he wanted to hear more but then thought better of it, he would just have to catch Deekin alone some time.

“Well Deekin would you like to join us for breakfast?” Eric offered after the awkwardness of the conversation had passed. “Though really I think its closer to lunch now.”

“You wants Deekin to eats with heroes?” He asked bashfully.

“I don’t see why not, do you guys?” Eric asked his friends.

“I would love to hear some of your stories over lunch, Deekin, I’m sure you have quite a few.” Liz said, very interested in hearing of how Deekin ended up here.

“Yes Gaizo very much enjoyed his first story of you two.” Gaz said with a grin before being playfully punched by both Liz and Eric. Gaz offered to make lunch as a means of apology, and before the other three could even really start talking he was back in with four plates of simple yet tasty looking roast-beef sandwiches, balanced along his arms.

As the four ate there meal they traded questions with Deekin asking about where he had come from and how he had gotten here. When asked about his homeland Deekin started describing a land called Faerun, which none of them had ever heard of, and the large variety of mostly-hostile creatures that inhabited it, only a few of which sounded familiar to any of them. It wasn’t long before the three friends had deduced that Deekin was not of the same world as they were, a fact which at first surprised the Kobold before he remembered the large magical explosion that had brought him to this place, which ended up raising even more questions, that Deekin did not have the answers too.

When they next asked if Deekin missed his home world, he was quick to answer that the only thing he really missed was his sole friend, the master he kept referring to named Ivan, but Deekin was quick to dismiss any idea’s of returning home. He was sure his friend had already forgotten him, it would not have been the first friend Ivan had lost, and that there was really nothing to look forward to back home except death at the claws of some monster.

“But here I have three new friends!” He had said excitedly, and the three friend’s, now brought up to four, had shared a good laugh at there new friend’s optimism. Deekin was very interested in the adventure’s of the three heroes and they had talked long into the night of there origins, how they had met, and all the quests they had been on. Deekin was very surprised at hearing they had technically been alive for 2,000 years, even if they had been in stone for most of it.

“Oh but Deekin is sure you got your revenge on the enemies before you turned completely to stone, right?” He asked, voice full of wonder. He had been taking notes the whole time they had been talking, saying that he was going to write there story so the whole world would know of there deeds.

“I dunno buddy, I’m thinking it’s too late for that story.” Eric said, he was truly tired, by this point Liz and Gaz had retired for the night and Eric wanted to go join his lover in their bed. Still he knew it would be rude to leave Deekin, who seemed to have a never-ending supply of questions.

“Oh please oh please oh please! This is the last story Deekin promises!” Deekin was begging him and Eric smiled at the Kobold’s child like nature. Eric looked towards the general direction of the bedroom’s and sighed. He really wanted to wrap up under his covers and feel Liz’s warmth around him…

“Oh Deekin get it, you want to mate again!” Deekin deduced and Eric just laughed at the Kobolds blunt way of saying it.

“No Deekin, I just want to lay down with her.”

“Yes that what Deekin said, mate!” Eric smiled.

“How about you Deekin? You ever have someone special in your life?”

“You mean like Deekin’s old master?” He looked a tad confused.

“No I mean someone you loved… someone you wanted to mate with, all the time.” Eric knew that was the only way to explain it to him.

“Oh…” Deekin looked to be deep in thought. “There was one girl Kobold who Deekin like, like that, she smart and liked stories and songs just like Deekin!”

“What happened to her?” Deekin was silent for awhile and Eric knew this was a hard question for him, and was about to tell him he didn’t have to answer when Deekin told him.

“Old master killed her.” That was all he said, and it took Eric quite awhile to register the words.

“What! Why?” Eric didn’t quite understand, and was hoping it made more sense in context of the situation.

“I had asked old master to free me from even older master, he was big white dragon, so old master agree and went to my tribe’s cave to kill dragon. Deekin knew hero would have to hurt some Kobolds who liked dragon, but master killed all the Kobolds, even those who not want to fight…” Deekin had a conflictive look on his face, as if he felt he was betraying his master by telling Eric this story.

“Why would he kill the one’s who didn’t want to fight?” Eric couldn’t believe what he was hearing, Deekin had spoke of this Ivan as a chivalrous charming warrior who stood up for all that was right, and this did not sound right at all.

“Master tell me that he had to be sure they wouldn’t try to trick him, that leaving them alive was too dangerous, that it didn’t matter because they were all evil anyway.”

“If he believed all that why didn’t he kill you?”

“Because Deekin had something he needed, so Deekin trade favor for statue, and after job was done master was nice enough to spare me, so long as I would help him from then on.”

“Let me get this straight…” Eric could feel his anger rising up in him. “He wanted some magic statue you had, and you told him you would give it to him if he killed this dragon that you used to serve.” Deekin nodded. “So he decided the best way to do that was to go into your tribe’s cave, slaughter everyone in there regardless of whether they were attacking or not, and then even after you had given him what he wanted he threatened you into being his slave!”

Deekin looked shocked but after awhile he nodded in agreement.

“Deekin never see it that way before now, Deekin just saw how kind master was to his fellow humans, and…” Deekin looked very distraught. “Master kill all my friend’s, kill my family! Master only kind to other humans, how could Deekin not see how mean he was to other peoples, even those who try to help him!”

Deekin was shouting and Eric let him release it, he knew the Kobold needed to release all the anger he had pent up in him, he recognized the feeling. Finally, after cursing his old master’s name in as many way’s he seemed to be able to think of, Deekin calmed down and looked towards Eric.

“You not like old mas-” Deekin stopped himself halfway and tried again. “You not like Terrible Ivan though, you truly kind to Deekin, kind to your friend’s, even though we are of different blood.”

“We can’t chose what were born as Deekin, to think someone worse or better because of the luck they had when they were created is truly foolish, and it would seem old Ivan was quite the fool.”

“Thank you Eric, you make Deekin feels much better.”

“You got somewhere to sleep tonight?”

“Yes, Deekin make nice little home in secret halls, it remind him of home.”

“Alright well I’m going to go on to bed, I’ll see you later Deekin.” The two said there goodbyes and Eric made his way to his bed where Liz was laying on her side in a simple purple nightgown, Eric gently climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around her from behind and she subconsciously put her hands on his and muttered something about how happy she was, before resuming her soft snores, and Eric joined his love in slumber, but not before thinking how for the first time in his life, he truly felt happy and at peace.