Heather knew a lot about Wendigos, but this was her first time seeing one up close and she couldn't deny that it was quite a bit more frightening than she had expected it to be. It wasn't so much that she suddenly found Alfred to be frightening as much as the characteristics of the wendigo, in particular teeth that caused a chill to run down her spine.
Almost in the blink of an eye though, Alfred's teeth and eyes were back to their normal color as though what she had just witnessed was nothing more than a trick or illusion. Heather blinked a few times in order to be certain that what she had just seen was truly gone.
"And no need to worry miss, I don't eat the Master's guests. Only if he asks me to." He flashed her a smile before motioning for her to follow him. Eirwin was likely already at the dinning room and was probably becoming impatient to start eating.
"We have a special guestrooms at times like this to accommodate our guests who aren't good with the bitter cold here." Alfred explained as he opened the dining room door and stepped to the side so that Heather could enter first.
She did find that the moment she stepped through the door that it was a fair amount warmer than the previous parts of the house had been. The walls were painted a neutral cream color and the floor was a light brown. The chairs matched the color in color and the table looked like it was made of sturdy oak and large enough to only accommodate a four people based upon the size and number of chairs sitting at the table.
Eirwin was indeed already seated at the table and looked a touch impatient to start eating. He had a lot on his schedule that morning and had skipped breakfast with the belief that he would've been able to get one later after the interview was over. Now however it was nearing noon and he hadn't had anything to eat all day.
In front of him was a selection of a variety of different meats, some of which Heather had never seen before. There was also a small corner of vegetables on the rather oversized plate that was placed in front of him.
Alfred pulled out a chair on the opposite end of the table and indicated for Heather to take a seat. She hadn't been expecting to be treated with food since she was a unexpected guest. Once she was seated, Eirwin snapped his fingers and a plate with a rather extravagant sandwich on it appeared in front of her along with a bowl of warm chicken noodle soup.
"Learning a small amount of magic never hurt anyone." He told her as he took a seat between her and Eirwin.
"Now that everyone is here, we can discuss everything while we eat. To answer your first question about how Eirwin changed back, I can answer that while the two of you are eating." Alfred said as he crossed one leg over the other. Heather was almost about to ask when he was going to eat but thought better about since she knew that type of eating habits wendigos had. He would probably hunt something later.
"Since I know this will have to be answered in two parts, I will start with the reason for his transformation. For some reason the master has a bad reaction to plain water touching his skin. He can drink it in any form but for some reason any time it touches against his skin like what happened back at the office, he ends up transforming without being able to control it." He explained as the other two began to eat. After one bite, Heather felt that this was the almost amazing sandwich that she had ever had in her life.
"In other circumstances, he can control his transformation with ease when he desires, however not when it comes to water."
"Does that mean it is some kind of curse?" Heather asked, talking in-between taking bites. Alfred and Eirwin exchanged a glance before the wendigo continued speaking.
"Yes, but that is something for the master to discuss with you later." Alfred replied, clearing his throat as he continued with what he was saying prior to the question.
"There is a way to get him to transform back, but we currently only have it available here as it is a special type of water that requires that master to soak in it for quite a few minutes before he'll be able to shift back to his human form." Heather actually wished at that moment that she wasn't eating so she could take notes on this. It was rather fascinating.
"And in case your curious, it's water from the natural ice and snow that can be found in the Antarctic." Eirwin explained, stopping eating for a moment so that he could add his piece to the conversation.
"The Antarctic?" Heather repeated surprised to hear this.
"Is there a specific reason why it has to be that water?" Eirwin nodded his head slightly, taking a sip of the wine in front of him before he replied.
"Yes, that's because it's where Ice Dragons natural reside. Used to rather. They are quite rare compared to before." He explained, dabbing the napkin on his lap at his mouth before continued.
"It isn't even actually where my thunder resides. I was an anomaly born within a thunder that was known to spawn a ice dragon ever hundred thousand years or so. Something to do with mix genes that went so far back." This was something that Eirwin didn't even quite know himself when it started. It was just something that his family had vaguely mentioned to him one time when explaining why he didn't look like the rest of the dragons around him when he was younger.
"Despite being such a rarity among your species, your family actually let you come to live among humans?" Heather asked not quite believing that they would let something so precious leave their protection so easily. A looked flashed across Eirwin's face and through his eyes that looked rather dark before he responded in a harsh tone.
"It wasn't so much that they let me leave as much as they kicked me out of their thunder once I was old enough and it was certain that I wouldn't ever be able to transform into a fully grown dragon due to whatever is wrong with me." He replied.