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You hold the girl until she calms down and stops struggling. It seems she realised that if you had wanted to hurt her, you would have already done so. You take the drake’s pelt and head before heading back to the keep. The girl seems reluctant to go, constantly looking back towards the flayed carcass. A loud growl comes from her stomach. Of course…
You slice a hunk of meat from the dead drake and give it to the mysterious girl, she starts devouring it raw. Some how you expected that. From then on, she seems more complaint, no longer hesitant to be led by you. That changes when you enter Falkner lands proper. The girl suddenly stops, staring at the distant keep with fear in her eyes. No matter how much you encourage her she won’t get any closer.
“Come on what’s wrong?”
The girl can barely speak the common tongue, but from her broken sentences and wild gestures she manages to communicate that there’s something about the keep that repels her and that she will go no further. You decide to leave her in an abandoned cottage on the border with the ash wastes. You promise her you will return to see her every so often. You guess it’s for the best, her strange appearance would only cause problems back at the keep.
After bringing back the fire drake trophies your standing in your father’s household grows even greater. You decide to maintain a… normal-ish relationship with your brother. You don’t try to assert dominance or ingratiate yourself with him, but you do make time to engage in brotherly bonding. Between the two of you, you come up with some very strange games and in jokes.
Tyrol receives a similar education to you and while he is competent, he lacks your drive. Without the painful memories of a past life to motivate him he doesn’t push himself as hard as you do. Although given your focus on your martial training he does end up with a better grasp of rulership and administration than you.
As for the girl you make time to visit her in the abandoned cottage periodically. During your visits you bring her food and teach her more of the common tongue. A she becomes more proficient you learn that her name is Althea and that she was an orphan that was enslaved by a nomadic tribe that lived on the other side of the wastes. Having never known her parents not even she could explain why she was different from other humans.
>Cont
