Chp.37: Another brother's return

"Finally we did it!" Brenno bellowed earnestly as he could see the beastmen army in the distance. The minotaur was so pleased that he gave a small jump, stamping his hooves hard on the deck of the ship.

Gord glared at him. "Our adventure isn't over, we're barely halfway through. Now comes the hard part, getting all these people through a desert. I don't see what there is to celebrate, at least we had water here" he grumbled. "And don't jump, we don't need you to trip the ship right now"

"Oh, stop it, you spoilsport! This ship may not be rock solid, but it can carry a ten-ton dragon!" Brenno exclaimed pointing to Darbi who was sitting next to them. "And by the way, I'm a person who values ​​small victories. I live one mission at a time. Our job this time was to bring these people here, and we completed it. I'll think about the desert tomorrow. Now I can only celebrate!"

Gord gave a disapproving growl and turned away. In response, Brenno grabbed him by the shoulders and started rubbing his hand on his head. The lizardman tried to free himself, but could not escape the mighty arms of the minotaur, so he could only yell at him a long series of threats accompanied by unkind epithets, which, unfortunately for him, only encouraged his friend to continue.

Darbi laughed out loud, earning a glare from Gord and an invitation from Brenno to join them (which tempted as he was, he declined for obvious reasons, given that if he tried to rub the lizardman's head like the minotaur at the very least would have severed it cleanly). For once he felt he agreed with Brenno rather than Gord; although normally it was the other way around since the lizardman was the more rational of the two, this time from the dragon's point of view it was the minotaur who was right. After all, it was all right to enjoy small victories, so celebrating their successful completion of their mission was due, even if the journey wasn't over yet.

Darbi's plan had worked perfectly: the journey had gone without hitches or incidents and the leaders of the beastmen, willy-nilly, had been forced to obey any order the dragon gave. Darbi was sure he'd made more than one enemy in that fleet, but as long as such enemies didn't cause trouble, that was fine with him. His job after all was to bring these people to safety, not to please everyone; though he would have liked the second condition, he knew that sometimes a firmer hand was needed to deal with the unruly. His plan might not have pleased the beastmen leaders, but it had allowed him to get all the refugees safely to their intended location, and he regarded this as a victory.

His friends were as happy as he was; after all, each of them felt responsible for the lives of everyone aboard the fleet. After all, they had been the ones to free those people and they had been entrusted to them. Therefore, he was not sorry that everything turned out well. Besides, they were also a little happy whenever they saw the furious faces of the tigermen and lionmen leaders; especially Gord, who had spent days trying to mediate without being heard, delighted to see Tzegorn's frown and often couldn't help but chuckle. Brenno, on the other hand, didn't even try to hide and on the contrary with extreme shamelessness every time he saw them he smiled at them in an extremely arrogant way, almost as if to provoke them. Darbi hadn't stopped him: after having given him so much trouble, he was happy that the beastmen bosses paid a little. After all, as long as Brenno stopped at those passive provocations and didn't do silly things like insulting or making fun of them, everything was fine. Misune, on the contrary, had been the one who had reacted the least, probably due to the fact that she hadn't been directly involved in that matter until the last moment and therefore had no hard feelings... or perhaps more simply she had common sense better than theirs and preferred not to go into antics out of silly pique.

Even Haku complimented him on his plan. In the end Darbi had confessed it to him: after Rhaegal had been freed, there was no longer any reason to avoid adding further worries about his brother's shoulders. Haku had been a little irritated that Darbi had kept what was happening from him, but he understood her reasons and finally approved of her actions, even calling them one of the smartest moves that could have been done in that certain situation. But despite these compliments, Darbi knew that when they physically met again Haku would not hide his clear hatred towards him. He had specifically told him that he wanted to speak with him and Rhaegal when he returned, and Darbi wasn't sure if it would be a calm and peaceful conversation. On the contrary, knowing Haku, it was a miracle that he still hadn't exploded due to excessive anger, tension, concern and a host of other less than positive feelings that he would surely have poured on him as soon as he was in front of him. Therefore, Darbi couldn't help but be a little worried about their upcoming meeting.

They reached the Zamor army in just an hour and dropped anchor; there were so many ships that a real pontoon bridge was formed in the middle of the Skai river which connected the two banks, and it was not made up of a single row but of two. That conformation at least made the landing simple: it was enough to connect the ships using wooden planks and everyone could pass from one ship to another without problems until they reached the one closest to the shore, and from there getting to land had been simple. Darbi and his men were met with a cascade of cheers from the soldiers of Zamor's army; many of them were in fact ex-prisoners of war and as such many of their family members were on board those ships, and consequently those who had rescued them were like heroes to them. Zamor came personally to greet them. "Welcome back, companions. I am happy that your mission has been so successful. We owe you the life and freedom of our peoples, and therefore my sincere thanks!"

Darbi felt a little uncomfortable being cheered like that, but he let the beastmen extend their thanks. That scene made him think again that maybe Gord really was right: people just needed some time to get used to it. The soldiers of the army, who until a few months before looked at the dragons with suspicion, were now thanking and cheering one of them; perhaps one day even the people who were getting off the ships at that moment, who instead observed that scene confused as if they didn't understand why beastmen were celebrating a dragon in that way, would understand and get used to his presence. This filled Darbi with new hope, and he swore to himself that he would work hard to make it happen.

Also very soon someone increased his happiness even more; with a splash, a large silvery figure leapt out of the water and leapt at him from behind. Darbi reacted quickly and parried the blow, but a tail wrapped around his head and stuck it in the mud. When he managed to open his eyes again he saw Rhaegal in front of him laughing loudly. "You kept your guard down as usual, brother" he said with a smile.

Darbi in response hugged him tightly. "It's good to finally see you in person, Rhaegal" he said. Even though he'd spent days talking to his brother through an avatar, seeing him with his true eyes and being able to hug him was something else entirely. After spending almost a week in complete concern for his safety, it was only right to hold his brother tightly.

Almost immediately after his sisters arrived too. One by one they peeped, some from the crowd, some from the river, and came to give him a warm welcome, though not on Rhaegal's level. After all, even though he hadn't taken many risks, he had been away for a while, so it was only natural that they would want to say goodbye. Obviously Maldor, Kotaru, Malchia and Sisna didn't show up... since they couldn't exactly move a body in hibernation. Darbi felt a little down about that, as he felt that anyway this was a situation that he had indirectly provoked by setting Rhaegal a bad example of participating in missions with his real body, but he didn't let that ruin that beautiful day and concentrated on celebrating with the sisters who were still there.

Finally Haku too arrived to greet him; apparently he had arrived late because he had been far away at the time of his arrival because he was patrolling the surrounding area, since he didn't trust the human king and wasn't sure that there weren't any pursuers, and therefore at least once a day he inspected whole area trying to identify even the slightest sign of danger. "Welcome back, brother" he greeted him back putting a paw on his shoulder. "You did a great job, and I'm happy to have you back. The family is finally complete again!"

"It's good to see you too, brother" Darbi replied with a smile. "And anyway, I didn't do a great job alone. It was a team effort..."

"Nevertheless you were in charge of the operation, and you executed it well" Haku said. "You must be proud of that. Since the newcomers intend to celebrate, then it won't hurt us to celebrate a little too tonight!"

Darbi was glad to see his brother so radiant; there were rare times when he lost his usual coolness and let himself go a little. He knew that his words weren't ironic or rhetorical: having lived with him for almost their entire life, he knew when Haku truly believed in his own words. So, there was going to be a real celebration that night, which he didn't dislike at all.

Brenno and Gord, who were next to him and had heard everything, were also thrilled. "Do you mind if we join you?" the minotaur asked.

Haku was a little surprised by that request. "Well... not that I mind, but are you sure? In short, you would have more fun celebrating with those of your race..."

"Then come and celebrate with us!" Gord offered with a smile. "After all, Darbi also deserves praise from our peoples. Isn't it better to have just one party all together instead of two separate ones? This way we won't leave anyone out"

Haku didn't know exactly what to answer. It was the first time he had been invited to a party. In fact, it was the first time for the whole family. "Well... what do you think?" he asked his siblings.

His sisters seemed as confused as he was, but Darbi, on the other hand, seemed to have very clear ideas. "I agree. We've never celebrated together, why not start now?"

"I agree too" Rhaegal said.

"Me too" Keita added after a few minutes.

"And me too" Tikka said as well.

After a few minutes, everyone agreed. Haku then replied: "Well, if you want to do it, then let's do it. I'll ask Zamor if he agrees and if he accepts we'll all be happy to join the party"

"Yay!" Brenno exclaimed, then proudly flexed his muscles. "If that grouchy lizard refuses, let me know, I'll persuade him!"

"You won't do anything at all, you idiot!" Gord exclaimed.

In response, the minotaur grinned. "And who's going to stop me? You?"

"No, the guards who are constantly defending him will take care of it!" Gord replied.

The two started bickering pretty quickly. Haku looked confused at Darbi and the latter gave him a gesture with his paw, as if to tell him that this was their usual behavior. Haku then gave up and immediately went to Zamor to ask his permission to join the party; after all, even if they were allies, he couldn't show up uninvited. He expected the lizardman to refuse, but after a moment's thought he agreed.

Upon hearing the news, his siblings were very happy about it. However, Haku quickly calmed down. "Well, it looks like we're celebrating tonight with the mewcomers, so let's at least help them organize everything. Sisters, you can help build the bonfires. Rhaegal, Darbi, would you come with me to look for a trecouche or two? I've found that our allies really like them, but we have just a few of them"

Both Darbi and Rhaegal knew that meant it was time for their 'brothers' talk'. However, neither of them refused. After all, they couldn't put it off indefinitely and sooner or later they would have to have this conversation. So, they followed their brother into the river and swam away with him.