Dragon's Peak was a skeleton of a town, but people still had time to live their best life. It was a farming community, filled with mostly fields of money making crop, wheat, small houses where the villagers lived, and a nice community. It was also the victim of a wretched bandit attack, whom the noble Paladin stopped in their tracks. The Paladin was a man little bullshit, and height, standing at 4'8, even with his armor on. Dwarves were quite uncommon in this part of the Azure Lands, let alone Dwarf Paladins.
"You saved our town! Thank you, thank you!" The head farmer, Ervin, was overjoyed when he saw the Paladin come back without a scratch. The man was out of breath, having to stop for a brief moment. He looked down at the newly established hero with relief, now that their town was finally safe, for the time being.
"No worries. Killin' bandits is what I do." He waved him off, taking off his helmet and brushing his blonde hair back. His hair was drenched in sweat, even in the cold it got hot in his armor. "Is there anywhere a weary man can get a drink?" He asked, his brilliant blue eyes piercing into his soul with restlessness.
"Of course, of course! Right this way!" Ervin turned on his heel, walking in the direction of the local tavern. The thump of the dirt under their boots was a familiar sound to both of them. "May I get a name of the hero who saved our town?" It was now he also eyed the giant greatsword on the back of the Dwarf. It was beautiful yet terrifying, there was gold trim on the scabbard which looked like tree branches, and the hilt was wrapped in leather. Ervin swallowed hard and tried not to let it bother him.
"Therrick. Therrick Brightbeard." The Dwarf stated, figuring it wouldn't hurt to reveal himself to the harmless farmer. Ervin could also tell his family based on how he spoke: very rough and he rolled his r's. It was a Dwarven dialect.
"Brightbeard! You're a part of that Dwarven bloodline- the ones of Paladins!" Ervin nearly stumbled when he heard. Brightbeard was a popular name all over the country: they were great Paladins who served the god Moridan, the Dwarven god of creation. In his name, it was their duty to smite evil and help people. Now the sword made sense, every Brightbeard had a sword like that.
"Yes, that's me. Now if yeh don't mind interrogatin' me on meh family history, I'd like teh get fucked up now!" He laughed, patting Ervin on the back quite hard to make the human nearly fall on his stomach, and he stepped into the tavern.
More like, he kicked the flimsy door down, and all the attention focused towards him. The smell of alcohol and the sound of music hit him right in the face as he scanned the crowd. Though, there was hardly any animosity towards him, but he was welcomed with open arms. A few patrons even bought the Dwarf a drink. Everyone was happily eating and drinking, chatting him up- except for one person.
She was standing on a table, playing a flute like it was her last action. Her fingers flew up and down the wooden instrument, and her tone was consistent and good. She paid Therrick absolutely zero attention thus far, and when her song ended, she struck a bow, and the crowd erupted into cheers. The most noticeable thing was that her height was a bit shorter than Therrick's.
Not bad. Good bards are hard to come by, and a Dwarf? Almost unheard of. Therrick thought to himself as he gulped down a mug of ale, not feeling the drink drip into his beard. He watched as the young bard collected her coin and sat at a table in the corner, not paying any mind now. It was when the girl looked up and winked that Therrick realized the embarrassing truth: He was staring at her. He felt his cheeks flush a tiny bit of pink, but he held his ground and walked over to her. She looked up once again, and not because she felt eyes on her, but because with his armor, it was easy to tell when he walked. Clunk, clunk, clunk..
The girl brushed her red hair out of her eyes and gave him a small smile. "Well, hello! I see you couldn't get enough of me." She winked, to which Therrick only laughed, the sound more like a baritone bellow.
"Are yeh kidding, lass? Yer one of the most amazin' bards I've heard in a long time!" He reached into his pockets to set some gold on the table. "Have a drink on me."
"Aww, you flatter me! Are you always this sweet around ladies?" The girl giggled a bit, to which Therrick playfully rolled his blue eyes.
"Only a certain few. I don't exactleh fall for everyone I see." He answered, his lip pulling into a smirk.
"Haha, I like you! What's your name?" She asked, resting her chin on her hands. Her green eyes were looking up to him rather expectantly.
"Therrick Brightbeard. And you are?"
"Freyja Kjell, at your service." The girl struck a bow, her leather hat nearly falling off her head.
"Kjell, Kjell.. I have never heard of yer family before." Therrick furrowed his brow and tapped his right foot, trying his hardest to reach the name out of his unfortunate memory.
"Never heard of Brightbeards either." Freyja shrugged, noticing subtle differences between herself and Therrick. Little things, like facial structure and body type.
"Ahh, enough of that, lass! Let me buy yeh a drink, yeh deserve it after a performance like that, really!" Therrick smiled and patted her on the back, and Freyja smiled gratefully. "Some wine, that's my favorite."
"Of course, lassie." Therrick made his way to the bar, and came back a short time later with a bottle of wine, and a mug of ale for himself. "Hope yeh enjoy that, I'm definitely goin' to enjoy this ale while I'm here!" He stated cheerfully before starting to chug his drink, and Freyja raised a brow.
"While you're here? You mean you're not from here?" She asked, tilting her head to the side quizzically.
"Well, yea! Me and ya are the only dwarves around here. I just told you I'm a Brightbeard, they're from the mountains!" He laughed now, finding her innocence adorable.
"Oh, I'm not from here either! Where are you headed, Therrick?"
"Arrowfall. Why do you ask?"
"That's where I'm headed!" Freyja grabbed his hands and spun around several times, the both of them nearly falling. Therrick was feeling a bit stumbly, and Freyja was dizzy from the spinning.
"Don't spin me! I am goin' to fall." Therrick protested, to which the slightly childish bard sighed a bit. "Very well.."
Freyja looked into Therrick's blue eyes, hers a brilliant emerald green. Something about her, he would notice, was different. It wasn't her olive skin, or bright smile. He couldn't put his finger on it. "May I join you on your journey? Just enough so we don't have to travel alone."
"No worries, I can handle meself just fine." Therrick replied, showing her his greatsword. The gold branches on the scabbard somehow lit up the dim tavern. "We don't need to."
"Oh, you don't understand! I..I can't fight." Freyja whispered in shame, turning a bit red and hiding her face.
He spit out his drink. "Yeh can't fight at all? But, yer a Dwarf! A Dwarf that's out here should be able to fight on her own, yea?!"
She shook her head in response.
Therrick pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't want to have extra company while I'm on a mission, but if yeh really don't know how to fight..I'm almost obligated to." He reeeaaally didn't want to, however if she truly was as helpless as she said, then he had no choice but to help. He would feel responsible for her inevitable death otherwise, and it was against his morals to let innocent people like her die. Plus, Freyja's puppy eyes were not helping his case.
"Ugh, FINE! We leave at dawn. But yeh better be able to keep up. I'm a warrior, not a babysitter. Ya can't be getting into trouble, ya hear?!"
Freyja squealed in delight and spun around. "THANK YOU!!" That was the last she said before running off to the bar. Therrick blinked for a moment, and decided to think about what he got himself into before going back to his alcohol, which he finished in a few seconds. Like most dwarves, alcohol ran through his veins instead of blood.
The quiet was short lived though, because the sound of two drinks being thumped onto the table snapped Therrick out of his thoughts. It was Freyja, sitting across from him. "Now, I owe you a drink. Here, take it! A token of our friendship!"
Therrick thought for a moment, and smirked before taking the ale from her. "To our friendship." The two clinked mugs before drinking by heavy mouthfuls, and they both finished at about the same time. "Hey, Freyja..Ya seem like ya can hold yerr stuff. Why don't we have a little drinking contest before we head to bed? Set the night off with a bang?" He asked, and Freyja nodded excitedly. That was all the confirmation he needed.
Therrick's hands slammed on the table. "TWO ALES!" He demanded, and the not so excited bartender had no choice but to oblige. He had witnessed several drinking contests before, and none of them ended well. Sickness, bar fights, even death. But, he got his coin, so he never banned them.
The contest began strong, both Therrick and Freyja finishing at about the same time. Two more were given, similar result. Freyja finished a tiny bit after Therrick, who did not notice her slightly sluggish movements in drinking. The stuff was strong and had lots of bite, and it was definitely not her favorite. However, she had to pull through now, because it's what she instigated. She hoped that she would not get sick this night.
A few drinks in, and both dwarves were starting to slow. Therrick was not chugging as fast, and Freyja was forcing herself to drink. But she did it, so she was still in the game. Though, it was unsure for how long. Even a drunken Therrick could see something was wrong.
"Freyja..ya don't have to continue if ya don't want to. Drinkin' contests are fun, and you ain't having fun." He slurred, but even in his drunken state he still cared for her well being.
"Don't worry. I started this, and Imma finish it." Freyja slurred back, her vision starting to blur.
"Okay, but know there's no shame in stoppin'. None at all." He finished his ale, and Freyja forced hers down as well. Now they were on even ground, and drinks were still coming.
It only took three more drinks for Freyja to quit completely, and Therrick won by default. He didn't care too much about the win though, he was worried for his new friend. Especially when she stumbled outside the tavern, and retched over the balcony. Therrick had a stomach for the stuff, but it appeared Freyja did not, which was uncommon among dwarves.
"Freyja..Are you okay..? D'ya want me to get ya some water?" He asked, only for the girl to respond with more retching. He winced and decided to leave her alone, going to the bartender.
"Hey..she's sick. D'ya have water or anythin'?" He could hardly hear what he was saying, and the bartender wouldn't have known what he was talking about if it weren't for the fact that he witnessed Freyja get sick. After all, being the one to serve the drinks, one can't help but get invested in the drinking contests.
"Of course. She needs to rest, and you do too, Mr. Hero."
Therrick simply rolled his eyes at being called a hero, though he was so drunk he thought he did, but instead he didn't do anything at all. "I don't like this hero stuff. I just like killin' shit that needs to be killed." He responded, to which the bartender didn't reply and just handed him a cup of water.
It took Therrick a moment, but he made his way over to Freyja, who stopped retching and was just lying on her side on the cold wooden floor, and handed her the water. "Drink it. It's not ale, it's water."
Freyja didn't respond at first, and just looked up at Therrick. Her olive skin was a bit paler than it should be. Slowly but surely, she sat up and took the water from him with both hands, and drank it much too fast. She laid back down on the icy floor, and Therrick shivered as snow started to fall.
He had to get Freyja out of the cold, and he could hardly stand himself. But he was independent, and he would not allow help from anyone. He grabbed her hand, and the barely conscious Freyja cracked open her eyes just enough to understand what was happening. But she didn't get up, so Therrick did the only thing he thought of in his drunken state.
He dragged her all the way into the tavern, making sure not to hurt her by pulling too hard, but honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if he popped something out of place. He went all the way to the bartender, Freyja in tow. "Bartender..we need a room." He slurred, to which the bartender wordlessly handed him a key to their new room.
"This way. Make sure your friend can stand." He said, his eyes wandering down at the now asleep Freyja. 'Shit.'
"Actually, why don't we carry her." The bartender picked up the sleeping girl without another word from Therrick, and with a bit of effort, both of them made it to the vacant room.
"Have a good night." He said before shutting the door behind him, leaving the two alone.
Therrick looked down at the sleeping Freyja, millions of thoughts running through his mind. "I hope you're worth all this trouble, Freyja." He said before taking off his ice cold armor, and getting into the soft bed next to her. His head against the feathery pillow, and a woman in his arms, he closed his eyes lightly as sleep overtook him.