Alessia groans, flopping back onto the stone. “I’m too tired for this. I’ve got a migraine. Do what you want, Aurelio.”
“Keeping the baby griffin it is! I don’t know what I should name it, though,” I say, watching the chick cuddle into my side. “Any ideas, Lief?”
“How about East? Since it’s from the Eastern Mountains?”
“East it is, then.” I pat the baby griffin with a smile. “Come to think of it, I already know what your first training session is going to be, little guy. How would you like to take out some nasty orcs?”
Chapter thirty-one
Alessia
He’s a dork.
But he’s my dork.
He runs along behind me, laughing hysterically as East gives chase. Lief cheers them on, and he cheers even louder when East finally catches up to Aurelio and tackles him to the ground, both of them tumbling into a heap. They’re covered in dirt, and Aurelio’s shirt is torn from East’s tiny talons, but they’re the happiest heap of laughter that I’ve ever seen.
Bringing East with us has brought out a brand-new side to Aurelio that I haven’t seen except for the time he hung out with Keendelle in Lihra. He’s always doting on the little bird, spending extra energy just to entertain him, and making a fool of himself just to see the look on the chick’s face. He makes himself out to be the fun-loving, goofy father type, and it’s driving me crazy. I never thought I wanted to have kids, but now Aurelio is seriously tempting me to fulfill the royal duty sooner rather than later.
I watch as Aurelio and East splash around in the river together, East toppling over multiple times under the force of the water flow. Aurelio purposely keeps splashing him with water, only for the baby griffin to splash him back, fall again, and squeal from the chill of the water. It’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.
Lief was right that griffins are intelligent creatures; Aurelio allowed East to help us eradicate that village of orcs, and sure enough, as soon as he started attacking the orcs, East started attacking, too. Since he can’t fly yet, he couldn’t dive-bomb the villagers like I’d hoped, but he certainly terrorized them thoroughly, pushed them my way, and left Aurelio to clean up the stragglers. He’s proven useful in hunting for food, too, since his natural instincts are still strong, and he’s enjoyed bringing back “presents” for Aurelio and me, ranging from entire bushes to small hares to giant bucks.
He’s adorable; that’s for sure. Anything that can take care of itself and act like the cutest thing on the planet is highly appealing to me. Maybe that’s why I like Aurelio so much, now that I think about it. And it explains why he and the griffin get along so well.
After these past few weeks of hanging out together, it’s feeling more like a proper family. Aurelio and I have executed all our quests to perfection, and East has insisted on joining us for each one. Lief is always chiming in with his snide or sarcastic comments, but when it comes down to it, he’s been very helpful in watching East when we need to focus. Aurelio and I cook dinner every night, including the meat East caught by himself, and we serve it up to him together like parents would make food for their child. East has already been mimicking Aurelio’s mannerisms, too. We’ve gone from hunting monsters to being hunted by a griffin to taking a griffin to hunt other monsters.
It's been an eventful six weeks; now, it’s time to go home.
We’re already on the edge of the capital’s territory, the Wendigo Forest thinning out as we approach. I can just make out the palace and the Holy Church in the distance. My heart warms to see the glittering landscape. It’s been only a month and a half since I last saw it, but it feels like the blink of an eye, and it also feels like six years. I’ll never tire of seeing my home after being away.
As we approach the eastern gates of the city, just as they did for our return from Krasta, the royal guards shout to one another and open the gates long before we arrive. This time, however, our welcoming party contains many more armed members than it did before, and with their weapons drawn, no less. I follow their eyes to the source of their apprehension, a small smile playing on my lips.
“My Queen, what is this?” the head guard asks.
“It’s exactly what you think it is. It’s a baby griffin,” I explain. “We picked it up on our travels. It is harmless; it thinks of Aurelio as its mother. Allow it to pass through the city without suspicion.”
The guard frowns nervously, but calls for the guards to stand down anyway. We pass through the eastern gates, all eyes on us as Aurelio and Lief accompany East through the city. As before, we head straight to the Adventurer’s Guild, a small crowd gathering at the doors after we head inside.
Seeing as it’s only midday, the Guild is bustling with adventurers and Guild workers. The tables are filled with rowdy, boisterous groups of men, the barstools all filled with talkative and unsociable loners alike, and the receptionists’ desk has a line that stretches half the length of the building. Gathering up our quest papers, I prepare to wait in line, but the brunette receptionist—who I’ve come to finally know as Amalia—spots us and runs out from behind the desk to greet us.
“Queen Alessia! Prince Aurelio! Master Lief! How wonderful to see your three!” she calls.
Then, she sees East, and she squeals, “What is that?!”
The entire Guild falls silent. All eyes turn to us, then to East, tugging at Aurelio’s pant leg, playfully emitting a high-pitched growl as he fights with the fabric. Aurelio leans down with a patient smile to take his clothing out of the chick’s mouth and to distract him with a deer rib bone we kept. East instantly jumps on the bone and rolls around with it on the floor.
“Amalia, this is East, our new…pet? Guard? I’m not sure what to call him, exactly, but he’s part of the royal family now. We had a situation with its mother, and so in the aftermath, the chick hatched, and he now thinks Aurelio is his mother.”
“Ah. I see. Is he…trained?” Amalia questions, raising a brow at East’s puppy-like behavior.
“We’re working on it.”
“I see. Well, then, he should be fine to have around the Guild. Let’s take care of your quest payments, shall we?”
“Thank you,” I sigh.
Amalia motions for me to follow, and Aurelio, Lief, and East tail me upstairs to see the Guild Master. The noise and chatter from before resume in the Guild as we disappear from sight.
