Daegal was starting to develop a routine of a sort. While the individual parts of it weren’t all that different from how he had previously lived, they now involved a lot more socializing than he was used to. He would wake up in the morning, check in with Fiora and her father, and then go hunting as a job rather than for survival. He was very successful at hunting, according to Randolf. Every time he went out, he was able to bring back at least a small animal, which according to Randolf, was very unusual when it came to human hunters. Even while eating some of his catches, Daegal was able to provide more meat than three hunters combined.

  He had secured a stable income for himself, which also led to further interactions with the villagers. Even though he had money, he didn’t have much to spend it on other than creature comforts, and he purchased those frequently. If you looked at his makeshift bed in the barn, you would see a veritable mountain of blankets either piled up on the hay, or hanging from the rafters. This was for privacy and further heat retention as snow became more common as the days passed.

  Other than the blankets, he also had the opportunity to try domesticated meats for the first time. Cow, pig, goat, all of them raised for the express purpose of slaughter and thus possessing a taste unlike anything he had eaten before. Unlike the wild animals who fight against both starvation and their natural foes, the tamed animals only knew the protective comfort of their fenced in farms, growing fat and soft, a fact that was reflected in their meat. It was delicious! Unfortunately, he could only trade for so many pounds of it before Randolf cut him off, saying that he needed to have some to sell. That was a major disappointment, but it was tempered with the idea that he could get more once the next group of animals were ready to slaughter.

  Familiarity was starting to bud in the dead of winter as well. He could see it in small ways as people became tired of running for cover whenever he so much as walked within their line of sight. They were too busy trying to survive the frost that had fallen over the world to take time out of their day to avoid him. As less people avoided him, more came to see that he wasn’t doing anything worth avoiding. That wasn’t to say they were cozying up to him or randomly inviting him for drinks, but he did enjoy not feeling completely like a monster.

  The children returned as well. With the slightly eased tension in the village, they apparently grew bold enough to start trying to stalk him in broad daylight. Nearly every time he was out and about in public, he had a small band of kids following along behind him, loudly whispering and acting like they were being very stealthy about it. He wasn’t quite sure what to do about them as he knew that humans protected their young with the most ferocity. In the end, he turned to the one person who might help him resolve this in a manner that wouldn’t lead to angry parents charging at him.

  “You’re being followed by children?” Fiora asked with a confused tilt of her head.

  Daegal nodded in confirmation, hoping that she would have the solution. What came instead was her tittering laughter as she tried, and failed, to contain her amusement. A scowl from Daegal made her raise her hands in surrender.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just... ha ha ha, I was imagining the kids stalking you like a predator while you were running for your life. The image of those little troublemakers chasing after you made me laugh.”

  With an exasperated sigh, he tried to get her back on track. “Fiora, I need your help, not your ridicule. What if their parents start getting defensive and it causes problems?”

  “Alright, alright, I see your point.” She stopped to think for a moment, bringing a knuckle up to her lip as she did so. After a few seconds, she adopted a smile and nodded her head.

  “I think we might be able to turn this into a positive situation. The kids were very curious about you, right? So, let’s feed that curiosity.”

  “Wait, what? What are you saying, Fiora?”

  “I’m saying, let’s have you sit down somewhere, and I’ll invite the kids out of hiding to meet you in person. I doubt this will end until that happens.”

  “But what about their parents?”

  “Let them come up and talk too. I can serve as the bridge between you and the kids, and a reassurance to the parents. If they see their children interacting with you in a controlled, safe way, that might encourage some of them to do the same. I’ve seen that they are starting to get used to you being around, and that will inevitably lead them to be curious.”

  “I... You really think that will work?”

  “It has a fair chance of working, yes. You might get a few negative reactions from the more protective parents, but I think it’s a good idea to try and open yourself up to conversation.”

  He was nervous about that idea, but he did come to her for help with this. Daegal let out a sigh. “Okay, I suppose some plan is better than none.”

  “Hey, my plans are great!”

  “Your plans rarely account for the safety of those involved, primarily yourself,” he argued with an unamused stare.

  “Life’s no fun if you don’t take any risks!” Another sigh escaped him, but he surrendered to her unrelenting attitude. They had a plan now, so he just had to follow it, even if his part in it was little better than acting like a talking statue.

  They entered the village again together before separating as they approached the market road. It was the most populous area, and the most likely place that he would find himself stalked by the half-grown humans. Naturally, he attracted a lot of attention, which meant that it didn’t take long for the kids to show up again. He caught wind of their movements and conspiratorial whispers. Daegal signals to Fiora where the kids were hiding with a subtle point of his tail as he found a place to sit down nearby.

  Sweeping away a thin layer of snow on the ground with his foot, he sat down a little out of the way of foot traffic, but still in open view, he waited and listened for Fiora to make contact with the children. They weren’t in his line of sight right now, so he could only hear what they were saying

  “So, what are you lot up to?”

  There was a brief exclamation of surprise from the group as they were more focused on me than anything else.

  “W-We weren’t doing anything wrong!”

  “Yeah, we were j-just playing around.”

  “Don’t tell our parents!”

  “Shut up idiot!”

  Fiora laughed at their antics before assuaging their concerns. “It’s alright, I’m not going to tell your parents anything. However, I did notice you following my friend around.”

  “Your friend?” one of them asked.

  “Yeah, Daegal, the big guy you’ve been following for a few days now. He actually came to me to ask for help on how to handle you troublemakers. Do you know what I said to him?” She paused for dramatic effect, and he could practically feel the kids leaning in. “I said, he should sit down and talk to you. Do you think that you would be interested in talking to him? I could introduce you, if you want?”

  “Really?”

  “We can talk to it?”

  “It’s n-not mean, is it?”

  “Don’t worry,” Fiora reassured them, “Daegal is really nice, but he’s also really shy too. If you promise to only ask him questions one at a time, I will promise you the chance to talk to him.”

  “Yeah!”

  “Okay!”

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  “I-If you say so.”

  “Great! Now, follow me.”

  That was the sign for Daegal to get comfortable, because he wasn’t likely to be moving much for a while. He saw Fiora first, and behind her was a small group of kids, three of which were likely from the group that first tried to sneak into the barn to get a look at him, while two were newer additions that had shown up. There were four boys and one girl by the looks of things, each of them seeming to be younger than ten years of age.

  The children had mixed reactions to approaching me. Some seemed excited, eager even as their eyes sparkled with wonder. On the other side of things, the less adventurous of the lot were nearly hiding behind Fiora, keeping themselves concealed other than a glancing eye that looked out from beyond their makeshift cover. Daegal could understand their nervousness as he was starting to feel it as well. The children moving closer to him began to attract the attention of the adults, who even though these did not appear to be their children specifically, became much more attentive to his presence.

  Fiora stopped in front of him which signaled the kids to do the same. With a flourish of her hand, she began the plan.

  “Everyone, this here is Daegal, my good friend and the village’s savior.” Daegal sort of wished she wouldn’t build him up so much, but now wasn’t the time to argue that point as she continued. “Now, who would like to introduce themselves first and ask a question?”

  Three hands shot up, each vying for her attention while the other two were content to wait and watch. Fiora considered who she would pick for a moment before simply pointing to the one in the middle. They were excited about being picked for a moment until they looked at Daegal again and realized the size difference between them. Even sitting down, he was significantly larger than the kid, and the young boy lost a lot of his courage as he was singled out for conversation.

  The lad practically folded in half, hands fiddling nervously in front of him. He stammered over his words for a moment as Daegal just stared. Eventually the whole scene was too painful to watch anymore for Fiora, and she just had to intervene. Getting his attention while making a face, she used her eyes to point at the kid and gave a slight dip of her head in his direction, urging Daegal to take the first step since the boy could not. Daegal was unsure, but he would try as he took a breath and spoke in a quiet voice.

  “Hello, uhm... yes, as she said, I’m Daegal, n-nice to meet you. What’s your name?” He glanced at Fiora to make sure that his prompt was good enough, and she gave him a smile of approval.

  The kid managed to finally stammer out a reply. “I’m K-Kenric, sir.”

  Seeing the kid act just as nervous as he was did a lot to ease Daegal’s own worries. “It’s nice to meet you, Kenric. Uhm, do you have a question for me?”

  “Y-Yes, I... I just wanted to know w-what you are.”

  “Hmm, that seemed like a question that many people want to ask.” He gave Fiora knowing glance. “I’m sorry, Kenric, I don’t have a good answer for you about that because I don’t even know it.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No, sorry. Do you have another question?”

  The kid paused for a second, thinking. “How strong are you?”

  That seemed more in line with the question a kid would ask, and Daegal grinned. “Well, I’m not sure how to measure it exactly, but I will say that I can lift a whole bear over my shoulders easily enough.”

  “A whole bear!?”

  “Yep!”

  “But they’re so big!”

  “I know, and some are pretty tough to fight as well.”

  “Woah...” Kenric stared at him, but it felt like he was looking through him, imagining what it would look like to see Daegal fight with a bear.

  With his question answered, the next child was selected to come up and introduce themselves. They spent some time like that, with Daegal learning the children’s names and slowly working through their nervous shell so they could ask him a question. It got easier as they went, with the kids gaining confidence the more he spoke with them. By the time the last child was introduced, there was hardly any hesitance in the children, and the ones with bolder personalities began asking questions quite vigorously.

  “What’s your favorite color?”

  “How many teeth do you have?”

  “Have you eaten a horse before?”

  “What’s it like being so tall?”

  Their fear was dissipating with each silly question he answered. Even Daegal was starting to enjoy himself more as the spirit of things was quite lively. That was when someone asked a question that increased the chaos tenfold.

  “Can I touch your tail?”

  Before he could answer, one of the kids cut him off with a shout. “Hey! No fair! I want to touch his horns!”

  “Me too!”

  Now Daegal was starting to feel worried as the kids clamored and approached him. It seemed that the collective had made the decision that he was now going to be their climbing equipment, and he had no say in the matter. Their little hands latched onto him wherever they could fit around as they climbed up to his shoulders to grab at his horns or went around behind him to try and snatch up his tail. He froze solid, not daring to move and inch for fear that he might hurt one of the little ones climbing all over him. The only thing he even tried to move was his tail, just to keep it out of their grasp, but that just made them think of it as a game.

  Daegal was now helplessly paralyzed as he had children hanging off his body. Both of his horns had a child hanging from them, swinging around and giggling with joy. Even as strong as he was, his head wasn’t meant to hold that much weight, and his neck muscles were bulging with exertion just to keep everything steady.

  He looked ridiculous, but a part of him thought that maybe that was Fiora’s plan all along. She knew these kids more than he did, so perhaps she counted on them eventually pushing boundaries to this point. A quick glance in her direction revealed a devious and amused smile on her face, meaning it was a likely guess.

  Any onlookers who were nearby had a mix of reactions. Some showed themselves to be very concerned, and others couldn’t help the smile on their faces as they watched the kids make a fool out of Daegal. It had to end eventually, however, and it came to a crashing halt when a shrill voice pierced the air.

  “Elric!” That tone of voice immediately caused every child to freeze as one of the boys dangling from Daegal’s horns turned to look at their mother.

  “Mom?”

  “Elric! Get away from that thing immediately!”

  “But Mom, he’s-”

  “NOW!”

  Daegal felt a little bad as the boy dropped down from his horn and walked to his mother. She snatched him away and bade a hasty retreat. That had always been a possibility they had known about, but he didn’t feel good about possibly getting little Elric in trouble. After that confrontation, both Daegal and Fiora decided that it would be best to send the kids on their way. They were a little disappointed, but the children didn’t wish to suffer the same fate as Elric, so they left with only a little whining.

  While it might not have ended on a favorable tone, the interaction as a whole had a positive effect on the villager’s perception of Daegal. Those who had been slowly adjusting to his presence now saw him as much less of a threat. There were still those who were adamant that he was dangerous, but he didn’t have expectations for changing their minds any time soon.

  The winter trudged along as snow piled up and some days were so cold that the doors of houses were frozen shut. Daegal was miserable as he usually was during the winter, but it was somewhat worse this year because he was called to action, leaving the relative warmth of his makeshift nest to help people who were stuck in the drifts. He could certainly move a lot of snow very quickly, but he would end the day with no feeling in any of his limbs.

  Fiora was there to support him whenever he needed it. It often included providing Daegal with hot drinks and food to make it easier to thaw out his frigid limbs. He really wished he could start a fire in the barn, but that was liable to send the whole building up in flames. His efforts were also rewarded with thanks from those he helped too, which was a nice feeling as it made him feel more like he belonged.

  The last few months he had been living in the village were odd, to say the least. There was a distinct disconnect between Daegal and the village, but that divide which was like a gaping chasm had been shortened to the equivalent of a river. It was a rapidly moving river, but it was navigable and allowed him to exchange brief words with those who passed by on its current. A sense of belonging was starting to take root in him, and the budding warmth of that feeling kept him inspired to keep working.

  By the time the weather started to turn with less snow and warmer afternoons, Daegal had made a few acquaintances that would wave to him or say hello every now and again. He had never been a part of a community before, and even though they kept him at arm’s length, it still felt better than the solitude that had consumed his life before this.

  Spring was coming, and the snow was only present in sparse patches across the ground as grass and flowers began to sprout. Birdsongs flittered through the air as life returned to the world steadily. This was one of Daegal’s favorite times of the year, mostly because it was a sign that the worst times were behind him now. That should have been the case, at any rate.

  It had been a normal day when he first woke up. The kids ran by him as he exited the barn, shouting out a good morning as they moved to complete their chores. He went hunting, not looking for anything specific, and ended up catching a fox. Randolf would be interested in this, and Daegal felt good as he casually walked through the woods. His pleasant stroll through the trees was interrupted when he heard a distant, and familiar, voice echoing through the trees.

  His ears twitched as he tried to focus on the sound. It soon became apparent that it was Fiora yelling, and she was shouting his name. Concern sprang up inside him, so he increased his pace significantly as he followed the sound of her voice. When he finally saw her, she was looking around frantically, panic in her eyes.

  Daegal dashed down the hill toward her, and she locked eyes with him, looking relieved, but still very concerned.

  “Daegal! Thank God, you heard me. I was afraid that I might miss you and you would walk back into the village.”

  That confused him. “Why? What’s happening right now? Why are you so panicked?”

  “A dozen armed men just rode into the village.”

  Fury erupted into Daegal at the audacity of these people who think they can damage a place he was trying to make his home and the people he had come to know. All four eyes glared in the direction of the village.

  “I’ll take care of it,” he growled out as he tried to step around her, only to be surprised when she grabbed hold of his wrist, stopping him.

  “No! Daegal, you can’t!”

  He was confused again as he looked at her inquisitively. “Why not?”

  Fiora breathed in deep as she explained. “They aren’t bandits or raiders, Daegal, they’re soldiers.”

  Daegal blinked. “What?”