"Gladly. Who do I have the pleasure to et?" The older Nidhogg asked.
"Grandfather, these are Tista Verhen, my girlfriend…" Tista's appearance and na left Bodya's old man indifferent, but her family na hit a nerve. His body stiffened and his eyes went cold for just a mont, but long enough for anybody to notice. Except for Tista, who was too tense, and Bodya, who was too happy about the reunion.
He listed all of his guests, always specifying their relationship with Tista. The more the Verhen na echoed through the cave, the less warmth remained in the eyes of the older Nidhogg.
"Guys, this is my grandfather, Vothal the Nidhogg. He took care of after my parents died and he taught everything I know about magic."
"It's an honor to et you all." Vothal welcod them one by one with a small bow while keeping a respectful distance.
Handshakes were considered rude in the Awakened community because physical contact was often used to study soone with a breathing technique.
"The honor is all mine, sir." Tista kept her face mask on, hoping it helped her to appear more confident than she actually was. "Bodya always speaks very highly of you."
"Glad to hear it, yet I wonder why he never spoke to about you." The older Nidhogg glared, but at his grandson.
"Grandpa!" Bodya said in embarrassnt. "I didn't ntion Tista to you because you've told countless tis that you weren't interested in my dating life unless I needed advice or it was sothing serious."
"And which case is this?" Vothal asked with visible confusion on his reptile face.
"Sothing serious!" Despite his ashen shin, Bodya's ears were almost as red as Tista's scales.
"Then why did you introduce her as your girlfriend?" The older Nidhogg retorted. "Or were you looking for the word fiancée?"
"Grandpa!" Tista burst out in flas and Bodya beca nigh-pink skinned. "It's not that serious. Tista wanted to et my family just like I t hers. I thought that soone as old as you would know about courtesy visits."
"Good." Vothal nodded. "You did the right thing, Tista. You saved yourself and this bonehead a lot of suffering before it was too late. For that, you have my thanks."
He gave her a deep bow, but despite his polite gesture, Bodya went ashen again.
"What do you an, Grandpa?"
"In a mont. Let's wait for everyone to arrive. This is a family matter and I don't want you to endure any more that's strictly necessary." The older Nidhogg beckoned at the other mbers of the family.
None of them bore a human face, preferring a form closer to their original appearance but with the comfort of prehensile limbs to conduct their experints. It was impossible to tell the emotions of the Nidhoggs because they lacked the necessary muscles unless they deed otherwise.
Their eyes were equally cold and expressionless. If not for his keen instinct, Lith would have never noticed the underlying anger and scorn in the still-growing crowd around him.
Much to his surprise, however, neither Bodya nor Tista were the subjects of the Lesser Leviathans' focus.
He was.
After a while, the cave was almost packed. The Nidhoggs who wore working clothes kept their humanoid forms while those who didn't kept their true appearance. They looked down on Lith, extending their bodies until their heads brushed against the ceiling to appear more imposing.
"Ssso our prodigal ssson is back." Said a cold, hissing voice that could barely pass for human.
Lith was expecting for one of the full-size Nidhoggs to deliver whatever speech Vothal had in mind, instead, the voice ca from the small crowd in front of them. The humanoid reptilians moved aside, making way for one of them.
The newcor was dressed in Frogemastering clothes like everyone else and had taken the sa height as the others, around 2 ters (6'7") tall. His scales were of a dull ashen grey, similar to Bodya's skin, and were streaked orange, blue, and black all over.
He wore no insignia of authority and aside from his hissing voice there was only one remarkable detail about him. Every Nidhogg had bone spikes coming out of their heads. So were straight, others curved.
A few ford a pattern but most appeared to be random. The newcor, however, had the bone spikes on his head arranged in a circular form, resembling a crown. Resembling Fenagar himself.
"Patriarch Forrn?" Bodya was happy to see him yet he was also confused by his presence in Vothal's ho. "What are you doing here and why are so many of our people assembled in a single place?
"Is it safe to leave your houses unguarded during such dangerous tis?"
He spoke out of sincere worry, yet his words were t with hisses of disapproval and furious glares from the full-size Nidhoggs. The others were also doing it as well but their forms kept their feelings from being noticeable.
The skin on their faces remained relaxed and their reptilian eyes wide, giving them a perennial indifferent look.
"Good godsss! Your ssstay on Garlen must have ssscrambled your brain, hatchling." Forrn replied, his expression still neutral while his voice oozed scorn. "Why do you think we are packed in here like animalsss? For sssurvival, that'sss why!"
"What?" Bodya was taken aback.
He opened his mouth to answer when fear took his breath away. He looked around, noticing several familiar faces and as many missing.
"Is this all that is left of our clan?"
"Godsss no! The femalesss are sssimply in an even sssafer location to ensssure that our next generation sssurvivesss. They are our future and need to be protected at all costsss." The patriarch's voice turned low as worry and grief filled his mind.
He looked away, his eyes focused on the recent past that kept flashing in front of him.
"Why? What happened to our hos?"
"Ssseriously?" Forrn snapped back, his tone as loud and angry as before. "Isss there sssothing wrong with Garlen's water or did peace turn your brain into musssh? The monster hordesss happened. The lossst citiesss happened. The goddamn Abominationsss!
"Why do you think we allowed you to go to Garlen? Becaussse it wasss clear that Jiera hasss failed and we need to learn from thossse who sssucceeded. And what did you do? You forgot about usss left usss here to rot!
"You ssstayed overssseas for yearsss to play with your girlfriend while we fought and died every sssingle day! What do you have to sssay for yourssself?"
It wasn't a rhetorical question, the pause long enough for Bodya to recover from the revelation and give an answer.
"The situation was under control when I left and I didn't abandon anyone. I asked grandfather for permission and he granted it to ."
"Indeed." The Patriarch nodded. "Permisssion to court the mber of a promisssing bloodline. To befriend a hero to Jiera. To learn how to rebuild our ho country ssso that eventsss like the plague won't happen ever again.
"Tell , young man. After all thisss ti, what did you achieve?"
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