Omen: 1, 19

  Jirot y within her father’s arms, drinking the milk from her bottle. She held it tight with both hands, havi not to let it go, otherwise it would fall and she would lose the milk. She looked up at her father, pausing for a moment, before returning to drinking.

  “Jurot, today, would you mind helpih something?” Adam asked, while scooping up some pe with his spoon, and feeding his you son, who somehow managed not to wear his food, unlike his uncle Gurot.

  “Okay,” Jurot replied, ing Gurot’s face with a wet cloth, the boy closing his eyes and wing, before looking up at his cousin. The boy smiled, before finding a piece of bread had suddenly appeared in front of him, not realising it had been Adam who had pced it before him.

  Adam hugged each of his children, pg a kiss on their forehead, before walking off. He stopped. He returo the children, pig up Gurot, with a noisy grunt, before hugging him close too.

  “Oboo?” Gurot asked.

  “Of course I !” Adam pced a kiss on his forehead, brushing his hair. “Be good for your mother and aunt, okay? You bully cousin Kitool, though, she’s tough. Jaygak… you have to be o Jaygak since she helped me out, do you uand?”

  Gurot blinked, before smiling up at his Cousin.

  “I’m gd you uand,” Adam said, brushing his hair once more, before pg him down. “If you all grow up too fast while I’m goo work, I’ll give you a good talking to. No, a bad talking to, bad. Do you uand?”

  All the babies were busy pying, pletely ign the Half Elf.

  “Good,” Adam said, walking off to go and smith that day.

  “Daddy?” Konarot called as she followed him.

  “What is it, princess?” Adam asked, lifting his daughter up without meaning to.

  “W?”

  “That’s right.”

  “W?” Konarot asked, pointing to her chest.

  “No, no, you should go and py with your siblings,” Adam said, rubbing his cheek against her forehead. “Okay?”

  “Okay.” Konarot’s tail drooped, but she returned back to her siblings to py with them.

  “Jurot,” Adam called.

  “Yes,” Jurot agreed.

  Smithing (Intelligence)D20 + 6 = 9 (3)

  Smithing (Strength)D20 + 8 = 13 (5)Omen: 1, 19 -> 119 + 8 = 27

  Adam plucked a Thread of Fate, and Jarot refused to return to the Iyr, choosing to die otlefield, and thus Fate was forever ged.

  “What do you think?” Adam asked, staring at his work.

  “It is rge,” Jurot said, staring at the axe head. It was a little te, more for using with two hands, but if the wielder was strong enough, it wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

  “What is that, Jurot?” Adam asked, staring at the long, thick, piece of wood. It stared at Adam angrily, with such beautiful curves, a heavihat he had never seen before on such a piece of wood.

  “The handle,” Jurot replied.

  “Have you been holding out on me?” Adam asked, reag out to hold the hefty hahere were smooth patterns within the wood at the bottom and at the top. The middle would be ed with leather, but Adam had requested words to be etched across the surfabsp;

  “I do not know what that means.”

  “I mean, you made something so special today,” Adam rubbed his fingers along the words etched along the middle.

  “Yes.”

  “Thanks, Jurot.”

  Jurot nodded. “You do not o thank me.”

  Adam sighed, raising his brow towards his brother, before tapping the head onto the axe, ing the leather around the handle. “Let’s go.”

  “Okay.”

  Adam and Jurot returned back to the shared family estate, with Konarot almost tag her father’s legs as he stepped through the archway. “How is it that you’re able to know when I return?” Adam reached down to her head to rub it, while Kirot and Karot both waited to be picked up and kissed, having almost tackled him too.

  “They always know when you return,” Sonarot said. “It must be because their senses are so good.”

  “You shouldn’t ruin our surprise!” Adam chuckled, lifting his eldest daughter up after having given his affe to the youriplets. He pnted a firm kiss on her forehead and brushed the girl’s hair, having doo the same to her siblings.

  Jurot stared down at the triplets. Their senses were great, and would be good for when they were trained in their family ways. “You should be proud that your children will bee so big and strong iure.”

  “Jurot, if you want to fight, just say it,” Adam replied.

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t bully my children like that!”

  “I am not bullying your children.”

  “Ignore your uncle, you three will stay small and cute forever,” Adam assured his children, pg Konarot down to go and greet his twins, who were drinking milk quietly in the er.

  “Papa!” Lanarot said, holding up sheet of paper towards Jurot. It was covered with paint.

  “Yes?” Jurot took the paper and stared down at the chaos of colours.

  “Look!”

  “I am looking.”

  Lanarot smiled, proud, before she returned back to her mother. She giggled and cpped her hands, before hugging her mother.

  “…” Jurot wasn’t sure what happened, but since she was happy, he supposed it was fine.

  Adam towered over his children. “How you do this to me? I have returned, but you are… drinking milk?”

  Jirot smiled up towards her father, before returning back to drinking her milk from the bottle. She y beside Jarot, just drinking away the milk that had been given to them.

  “Just this once I’ll five you, but don’t expect it again,” Adam said, sighing. “Only because you’re so cute.”

  “Does he only have the same three jokes?” Lucy whispered to Mara.

  “They are not jokes, but yes.”

  “That’s true, he probably does think they are cute,” Lucy said, staring at the children.

  “They are cute.”

  Lucy threw a look to Mara, before looking back to the Goblins. Goblins… cute? She tio watch them. They fiheir milk aually asked for their father to pick them up, and Adam kissed their foreheads and nuzzled into their cheeks.

  “Okay, maybe just a little cute.”

  “Yes.”

  “So he should only five them a little.”

  ‘Did he corrupt her too much?’ Mara thought. However, Adam erhaps her greatest true ally, so she thought against slitting his throat at night. Though she k would have been difficult for eveo deal with the likes of the Half Elf.

  As dinner was cooked, the Kan family grilli aables, Adam’s panions gathered together. They half expected him to show off his children to them, again, for the umpteenth time that week. Of course, he did show them off, but very quickly he settled the children away.

  “Hold on, Jirot, daddy o do something,” Adam said, pretending as though she didn’t want to leave his side, even though she was walking over to her nana for her attention. Jarot had followed after her, though had spotted his other nana, and waved his hand at her and smiled and squealed towards her.

  “Just this once, because you’re cute,” Adam grumbled, while the others mouthed the words.

  As the smell of food permeated through the air, Naqokan spoke a tale of her family. It was the tale on sying, a cssi the Kan family, and the rise of a Great Elder within their family, more than likely a Chief sidering their heritage.

  “What a great story,” Adam said, g his hands, with his triplets also g their hands beside their father. They didn’t seem to mind hearing about the Dragon sying, si was about sying a Red Dragon, and not a Silver Dragon, which was totally different.

  As the food assed around, Adam cleared his throat and then opened his mouth in order to speak.

  His mi bnk.

  He had pletely fotten all the things he had prepared to say. ‘Damn it.’ He noted all the looks that he had gathered, sihey had noticed he wanted to say something.

  “I’ll try to keep it short and sweet, just like my-,” Adam raised his fist to his mouth, and closed his eyes as he tried to stop himself from being ge. ‘Just this once.’ “I wao say thank you to everyone here. To my Aunts and Uo the rest of my family, and to my friends, and those who decided to follow me for whatever reason. I only get to live with such joy because of you all.”

  Adam’s cheeks turned red and he cleared his throat again, quickly moving on from saying something so embarrassing. “I wao specially note someone who trusted us early. Someone who we came to meet by pure Fate, though, then again…” Adam gnced around to all of his panions. “Okay, so maybe the Fate thing isn’t that special, but with him, it’s a little different, since he was fated to meet not me, but my brother, Jurot.”

  Slowly, the attention turo the giant of a boy, who was teically no longer a boy to Adam, though he had long been a man to many of them. “Nobby here has been a member of our motley crew for a long while, sihe first few months I arrived in this nd.” Adam paused, realising he had said way too much. ‘Oops.’

  Nobby turned slightly red from all the attention, and stopped eating, too scious from all the gazes.

  “Jurot, did you have fun training Nobby?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then there’s not much more to say, other than perhaps, that we’ll take good care of you Nobby, as we have so far. I’m not sure about you, but I’m gd that you came with us, Nobby. Today, you tureen, and…” Adam paused. “Nobby, you do tureen today, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m not so good with the numbers,” Adam admitted, shrugging his shoulders. “The only reason I know my children’s ages is because it’s less than five.” Adam smiled, chug at his little joke. ‘Damn it! Just oime, Adam! Oime!’

  “Anyway, I just wao say it leasure Nobby, and that I hope you’ll tio work with us. Well, specifically me, since I need you. Well, I need all of you in one way or another, but Nobby, you’re a little special. It’s not that I need you for myself, but I need you for my children, and the busioo, I guess. You might be an Expert, Nobby, but I hope to see you fly a little higher, and to help you with that, I had to speak with Elder Zijin, and he gave me some eel to work with. I had a little bit of wood from helping the Iyr previously too.”

  “Stormwood,” Jurot firmed, as Adam reached back to the sack he had brought with him, revealing the axe they had made together.

  Laygak nodded his head, uo trol himself, noting the stormwood and stormsteel together.

  “I hadn’t worked with stormsteel before, and didn’t realise it was so heavy when I was doh it, that’s my bad,” Adam said, before holding out the on. “Uhe leather, there’s a little statement I left for you, but you read it ter.” Adam smiled.

  “I ’t read,” Nobby replied.

  Adam’s smile faded. “Oh. I’ll write it down for you t-,” Adam looked to Jaygak, raising his fiowards her. “Yes, I uand what I said.”

  Jaygak had her brows raised, and she had leaned forward, ready to snap at the bait, but she pulled bad held up her hands ily.

  “I’ll tell you it ter, Nobby.”

  “Okay.”

  “That axe, it’s mundane, but it’s ift to you. It es with a promise, too.” Adam held out a piece of paper that had been tied by a ribbon.

  Nobby blinked, sure he had stated he couldn’t read only moments ago.

  “Iure, you bring this to have your axe ented,” Adam promised. “Happy birthday, Nobby.”

  “Thank you,” Nobby replied. Receiving su axe caused him to turn warmer, gd that Adam had remembered this time. The axe itself erhaps the best present he had received on his birthday, never mind the offer for entment. No, perhaps it wasn’t the best birthday present since his family wasn’t here?

  Adam chatted with Nobby ter, about his ideas for what to pay the young man iure sidering his status, as well as what was engraved onto the wood.

  Nobby y in a guest room in the shared family estate, his entire body warm, with the smallest of smiles as he stared up at the ceiling. Sure, he could have goo work for someone else for fifty gold a month, perhaps even more, but…

  Nobby thought about the axe, and what was engraved on the side. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, still smiling.

  This time he didn't fet!

  Thankfully he used his Omen and nothing horrible happened.