Redux: Lineage

After purchasing the items I needed to offer to Cotan, I set out for her summoning shrine: a small stone statue located near the Tumbling Falls just outside of the city. It was a short walk through the woods, accompanied by the sound of the roaring falls overwhelming the pleasant chirping of the ever-winter birds and their woodland friends. The waterfall itself was enormous, standing well over one hundred feet tall and about as wide. It was a curved waterfall, almost like a crescent moon shape that carried brown, ice-laden water down the hill it sat on and out into the country's rivers and streams.

The rock around the splash pool had been completely eroded over the time the waterfall had existed, all except for a small outcropping that the summoning shrine sat on. It was clearly protected by the Spirit Guardian's magic and the air around it felt magically charged, creating a small tingle in the hairs on the back of my neck and a warm feeling in my stomach as I approached the ancient carved stone. It was nothing more than a simple headstone-esque carving with an image of a sheep's head in the centre surrounded by flowers and trees. It looked as if a child had carved the stone themselves.

I set down the items in a circular pattern in front of me before getting down onto my knees in a resting position, closing my eyes as I lowered my head before speaking aloud.

"Spirit Guardian Cotan, I must call upon your for assistance," I said in a loud and clear manner. "I have a matter of great importance that calls for your eternal wisdom. Please, accept these humble gifts I have brought you and appear before me, so I may impart them unto you and you shall impart your knowledge unto me."

I closed my mouth, waiting for any sight or sound to give away that Cotan had appeared. Several second ticked by, making me wonder if she was going to show up or not. My worries, however, were soon laid to rest as the gentle sound of bells entered my ears, followed briefly by a gust of wind and then a loud yawn. I opened my eyes and beheld the creature before me. I had been expecting a creature of elegance and beauty, something that would take my breath away and truly enrapture me with its divine majesty.

What I got was a little glowing creature that was adorable.

The closest thing its body resembled was an Eastern Dragon, with a long, flowing body, short arms, and a long, flat snout. But instead of scales and whiskers, this creature was covered snout-to-paw in what appeared to be sheep wool. She had a long set of rabbit ears and deer antlers springing out from her head, both having several small bells tied around them. Her body was as white as the snow around her with bright, glowing eyes that were as deep blue as an ocean, glistening with innocence and youth.

"Hiya, guy," she squeaked in a cute voice. "What can I help you with?"

"... Cotan?" I asked in a confused manner, still not sure whether or not this was real.

"Yuh-huh," she nodded, her bells jingling as she moved her head. "That's me."

"You're... you're really not what I was expecting..." I said, scratching the back of my head in an awkward manner.

"Lemme guess: you were expecting my big sister, Cadas, weren't you?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in a bemused expression. "Well too bad. This isn't her shrine. It's mine."

"Right, okay then," I said, shaking my head and trying to focus. "I'm trying to find someone. Do you think you can help?"

"I should be able to so long as they're in my domain," she nodded. "Give a description though, not a name. I'm smart, not omniscient."

"Okay then," I nodded. "She's a white-scaled dragon, about thirty years old, speaks in a very formal manner, came here to try and reason with another white-scaled dragon named Heimili, much bigger and much older than her."

Cotan closed her dish-like eyes for a brief second, puffing out her fluffy cheeks for a long moment. Her horns lit up in a brilliant manner and the tip of her tail began to glow through the wool on it. After a long moment she opened her eyes with a confused look on her face, cocking her head at me and asking a question.

"I'm finding a dragon's aura in a cave not too far from here... but it isn't a dragon," Cotan said. "It's just some big-booby lady with blue hair reading a book."

"Then that'll be her," I said with a nod and a smile. "Thanks, Cotan. Your gifts are right here."

"Awww... you're going already?" she asked in a saddened manner, looking at me with wide puppy-dog eyes.

"I, uh, I mean... I was going to," I said, looking at the two-foot tall creature with a confused expression. "But I can stay a while, if you want me to."

"Can... can you pet me?" she asked, jingling her bells once more. "On the head?"

"I can do that," I nodded, reaching out and giving her a thorough scratch between the antlers. "Do you often get people to do this?"

"Every now and again," she said, her little foot kicking out at her side as she enjoyed the scratches. "I tend to get a lot of female visitors asking really mundane questions."

"Like what?" I asked, moving my hand down to under her chin and giving her a thorough scratch as I spoke.

"The usual 'Where's my husband gone?', 'How many children will I have', 'What's Carla from the other side of the city saying about me?'" she said with a roll of her eyes. "You're the first adventurer I've had here in a long time. It's nice to be helpful to people actually trying to help others."

"I can agree to that," I nodded, Cotan now lying on her back and asking for belly rubs.

I moved the flat of my hands onto her stomach, giving her woolly body a good and proper scratch as she lay there, giggling and chuckling as I got deep into her coat.

"My older sister gets a lot of adventurers visiting her," Cotan said after a few moments of silence.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"She takes the form of a big-booby human woman when she talks to people," Cotan answered. "Men and women alike are willing to throw themselves onto their own weapons if she'll sleep with them, so they always ask her if there's anything they can do to make her happy."

"She gives them the runaround, doesn't she?" I asked with a smirk. "Sends them on impossible quests just to mess with them?"

"How'd you guess?" Cotan asked.

"I used to know a girl when I was about fourteen called Karissa," I answered. "She was the daughter of some foreign baron guy, had about eighteen kids with eleven different women and they were all beautiful. Selective breeding and all. Since the girls were so up their own asses about how pretty they were, they felt they were above everyone else and never wanted any suitors. I had a crush on Karissa, obviously, and wanted to try getting into her pants."

"Lewd," Cotan stated.

"Indeed it was," I nodded. "Now, she expected me to be like any of the other idiots that came running to her with sex in mind and she tried to send me off on a quest looking for the claw of a dual-humped Angler Wyvern."

"That's not a thing," Cotan stated in a flat tone.

"Damn right it isn't and I knew that from the get-go," I chuckled. "She tried to send me on a wild goose-chase looking for something that didn't exist to keep me out of her hair. I told her several things at that point: Wyverns don't have humps, an Angler is a type of fish and not a Lesser Draconid, and that she was a pretentious prick who wasn't worth my time."

"Stick it to her!" Cotan giggled. "So what did you do after that?"

"Very lewd things with a very lewd woman for a very lewd amount of time," I said with a shrug. "I'll tell you when you're older."

"You sound like my sister," Cotan said with a heavy sigh.

"Have you been sufficiently petted?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Indeed I have, traveller," she nodded, rolling onto her front again and floating into the air. "If you ever have need of me again, don't hesitate to ask."

"Enjoy your gifts, Guardian Spirit," I said, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead and getting to my feet.

"Do you want me to tell you where the dragon actually is before you go rushing off?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Aye, that might help a bit," I said, turning around with a gentle smirk. "Directions, please?"

I landed hard as I dropped into the subterranean cave, having to break roll to avoid hurting myself badly. The air in here was much warmer and as such the ice had begun to melt, dripping into large puddles on the floor. The cave was lit by glowing crystals mounted on the walls, each having been expertly carved out into a square shape. It resembled a foyer, if I had to compare it to anything, and the aspect of it being homey was increased ever further by the addition of a wooden door on a carved wall. I walked over to the fine-oak door and raised a fist, ready to knock on the door and see if anyone was 'home'.

The knock echoed behind me, bouncing off the walls and drowning out the sound of the dripping water from the melting ice around me. Several long seconds passed by before the door swung open by its own accord. Svea had seemed friendly when I'd met her at the Wyvern Colony, but I wasn't sure how welcoming she'd be if I wandered directly into her... home. I drew my sword from over my shoulder, gripping the two-handed hilt tightly as I slowly walked inside, keeping my eyes on anything and everything, waiting for the slightest hint of movement.

"You can put that away," a familiar female voice carried throughout the entrance.

I tightened my grip even further as more crystals lit up the cave... revealing it to be no cave, but instead be a rather well-furnished living space. It was complete with a table, several chairs, and furnishings including bookshelves, storage chests, armour mounts, and several weapons mounted on the wall. Rugs from different creatures lined the floor and the whole placed carried a beautiful scent of spiced apple, something that made my stomach rumble and settled my nerves. I looked further into the room and spotted Svea herself sitting on a comfortable-looking chair reading a book.

She had a set of spectacles resting on her nose and was wearing the same dress I'd seen her in the last time we'd met. She nonchalantly turned over a page in her thick tome as she looked up at me with a gentle smile. I was on edge a little, not entirely sure whether to trust the dragoness, despite her welcoming manner, but just the mere sight of her filled me with such content and warmth that I felt it'd be rude to turn down her request. I slid my sword back into its sheath as I walked over to her, only to stop in place when she raised a large, soft hand and pointed to my boots.

"Remove those, please," she requested. "I would prefer if you didn't track mud and water through my house."

Once again, I did as asked, taking off my leather hiking boots and setting them by the door, closing the entrance and feeling the soft rugs through my socks. I walked back over to Svea, the woman marking the page in her book before standing up, her enormous figure towering over me by a solid foot of difference with a gentle, motherly smile on my face.

"Now," she asked in a soft tone. "How can I be of assistance?"

I was unsure how to break the subject to her at first. I could just outright tell her that I was here to kill Heimili and wanted her advice on how to take her down, but I didn't know Svea enough to gauge how she'd react to that. She could become hostile immediately and tear my head off before I could so much as blink at her. I had put myself in a literal dragon's den next to one of the most dangerous creatures in existence and was about to tell her I was planning on killing one of her kind's greatest former heroes.

But on the other hand, lying to her would just make her even madder once she found out that I used the information she gave me to kill Heimili. That was if I even managed to get that kind of information out of her without giving away that I wanted to kill her. I needed to know where she was and how to kill her and I needed to hope and pray that Svea was understanding enough to be calm and willing to help without immediately biting my head off.

"Svea," I began in an awkward tone. "Heimili... Heimili is dangerous, and I feel that it's only right -"

I fell silent when she lifted up a hand, gesturing for me to stop speaking. Worry shot up in my head and heart, fear gripped me as I stared at Svea's unreadable face as I waited for her to speak.

"You have no need to justify your choice," she said, slowly shaking her head as she spoke. "I am more than aware of the crimes committed by our former matriarch. Merely ask what you need to and I will do my best to answer, but do not expect me to lend direct assistance when your battle arrives."

"I won't ask you to," I said, nodding curtly after she'd finished speaking. "Can... can you please tell me where she stays?"

Svea was silent for a long moment, clearly conflicted about whether or not to actually tell me where Heimili hid herself away. She looked up to the ceiling and mumbled something under her breath, something similar to 'Mother forgive me', before she looked down at me with resolve in her eyes.

"Heimili has made her home in Falcon's Roost," she said in a steady tone despite the guilt in her voice.

My heart sank slightly as soon as I learned the location, knowing that Falcon's Roost was one of the highest and most dangerous places in Winter's Maw. It was a rocky plateau in the 'warmest' part of the country where snow barely ever fell and was home to, what else, a large population of falcons. It was a breeding ground and haven for the birds because of how out of the way it was to those without flight.

"Of course it is," I said with a sigh, nodding my head slowly. "Is there anything else you can tell me about her home?"

"She has amassed a large amount of treasure, as most dragons do, that she has stolen from the houses and castles of those she slaughtered in her time in exile," she continued. "She has dug out the mountain Falcon's Roost sits atop and has filled several enormous caves to the brim with treasure.

"Svea," I said after letting her finish. "I'm not here for her treasure."

"But your friends are, no?" she asked, cocking a slender eyebrow.

"Friends?"

"The mercenaries you've employed to help slay Heimili," Svea elaborated. "The Barb Tails. You lack the funds to pay them off out of pocket and you've hedged your bets on Heimili's cave possessing all the treasure you need. I merely wish to settle your worries and make sure you are not troubled by the thought of what may happen if you cannot pay them."

"I... thank you," I said, nodding in a grateful manner. "That's very considerate of you."

"Think nothing of it," she said, narrowing her eyes and smirking in a playful manner. "You're much too cute to ruin yourself with worry."

I froze in place at that sentence. That little bit of information had completely changed the dynamic between us. Was she attracted to me? Did she mean that in a platonic way? No, look at her face. Those eyes, that smile... she's flirting with me. Teasing me right now. She's dropping hints and this was one of them... right? But she was a dragon and they didn't feel attracted to humans... right? I know I wasn't a human, but if the shoe fits... but was Svea interested in me? She seemed to want to view humans as equals, treat them with the same manner of respect and decency the dragons commanded from others...

But that didn't automatically mean she wanted to fuck me, did it? I hoped it did, but I wasn't getting ahead of myself. Was this any other woman, I'd have started laying on the charm thick and quick, but here? I had no idea if this was a cultural thing, a dragon thing, or just a Svea thing. What if she was a blunt woman? Said what she meant right out the gate regardless of who was there? Though you don't usually see something as 'cute' unless you're interested in it. Wait, no, people see puppies and babies as cute. Did she see me as cute in the same way people say puppies cute? If that was the case, then I needed to be really careful about what my next move-

"Richter?" Svea asked, tearing me from my thoughts and bringing me back to the conversation at hand. "Are you okay? You went rather blank for a long moment there."

"Y-Yeah... I'm fine," I nodded, wondering why I'd gone from my usual self to some stuttering virgin. "You just called me cute."

"Indeed I did," she said, nodding slowly. "Do you feel belittled by it? Have I offended you?"

"No, not at all..." I said with a quick shake of my head, remembering the promise I'd made to Grael earlier. "Never mind, getting back on topic here."

"Would you mind discussing it over tea?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at the chairs she had set up by the fireplace. "I've walked an awful lot today and feel it would be better for us both if we were sitting down during this discussion."

"Uh..." I said, looking over my shoulder at the doorway before deciding I had nowhere to be fast. "Sure. Whatever you'd like."