Haku, king of all dragons

Luckily Haku's idea worked: when people saw the sand worm, they seemed to calm down a lot. The beastmen cut off a piece and made sure that a part survived, so that it could regenerate and provide more food in the future. The amount of meat they got from a single sand worm was quite a lot; if Haku had brought more the next day, surely the inhabitants of Iluvatan would have been even more serene.

"Looks like people are happier now" Gord murmured as he and Brenno strolled through the streets. The sun had set for a while and there was hardly anyone around, but the street was still illuminated thanks to the many open windows, from which the light of the oil lamps inside emerged. Inside the houses, the two friends could see several families having dinner, and from their eyes they seemed rather peaceful... much more than the previous days.

Simus hadn't been the only one to hear rumors against them; Brenno and Gord had also heard some of them, and so they had taken to walking all over the village late at night. 'Walking', of course, translated as 'peeking through the windows and checking that nobody was doing something stupid, and at the same time checking that people's spirits remained high'. In this way if someone had demonstrated particular dangerous tendencies they could have intervened promptly. And after all it wasn't spying: practically no window in the whole village had glass or shutters, since they hadn't started manufacturing them yet and the temperature in the oasis remained comfortable even at night, so looking inside the houses was inevitable for anyone passing by there by chance. Thanks to this method, both Brenno and Gord had been able to verify how calm people were, and they could say with confidence that since Haku had brought that sand worm everyone had become calmer.

"It's just a temporary situation" Brenno grumbled. "But if we could find one of those underground caves, empty it and then grow only edible mushrooms inside, this would help restore people's confidence in their future. With those mushrooms we will be able to eat and even feed the sands worms and raise them. Even if we could only find a small cave, working inside would show people that we do something. Sure, we'll still need a way to grow vegetables and feed our animals... but at least we'll have more time to discuss"

Gord let out an approving sound. He had to admit that his friend could be very mature at times… at least when he wasn't blind drunk. "You're right. We should propose it to..."

"No, I don't think we should propose it to the Council" Brenno interrupted him. "Haku proposed it days ago, and few listened to him. It's always the same story, few guarantees, high probability of failure... and so we always stand still. I think we should act on our own"

Gord stopped for a moment. "Are you saying... that we should oppose the Council?" he asked in a somewhat worried voice.

Brenno shook his head. "What? No! Of course not. I'm not going to do a coup or any shit like that. Can you see me running this place? Aside from having a beer festival every Tuesday and a brandy festival every Thursday, I don't even know where to start to make things work" he said. "What I'm proposing is to look for a cave on our own. No law or Council rule forbids us to do that. Once we've found it, we'll just have to secure it and prove that growing there can work. At that point we'll show everything at the Council. They would be idiots not to take the opportunity when everything is practically ready, don't you think? And so for once instead of wasting time in power games they will decide to do something"

Gord considered. Actually the friend's proposal wasn't bad at all. Indeed, it could potentially work very well. "I have to admit I like it. Sometimes you surprise me, Brenno!"

The minotaur puffed out his chest with pride. "Surprising people is just one of my many talents. Next to sex appeal, muscles that are the envy of tree trunks, an indestructible liver and an exceptionally long..."

"And here you immediately disappoint my expectations" Gord sighed, then he became serious again: "If we really want to do this, we should ask Darbi for help, dragons are the best at searching..."

"Of course we'll ask him! But not because he'll be useful to us, but because he's our friend! If we're about to carry out a covert operation, we can't leave a team member out!" Brenno exclaimed. "The fact that he's not part of the Council means nothing. The three of us are a team and we do things together!"

Gord smiled. Yes, in fact Brenno was right. And he too, deep down, was of the same idea. He didn't want Darbi to help them because it could be useful, since they weren't hunting but would be looking for a cave, and therefore people like Isaac or that spirit that the dragons held captive would be more suitable for the role. He wanted it because by now he was too used to considering it an integral part of his life to exclude it. After all, this was how friends felt: no matter the strengths and weaknesses, they wanted that person by their side in any adventure, even if it was just a burden.

"We'll talk to him about it tomorrow. I'm sure he'll be enthusiastic about helping us. We'll act without anyone noticing, so they won't get in our way. We work better without curious people getting in the way" he said. "So please keep that huge mouth shut"

"Should I keep my mouth shut? Oh, how can you ask me that!?" Brenno exclaimed in a tragic voice. "I didn't think you wanted me to go hungry, or die of thirst... what's the next step, ordering me to close my nostrils so I can die from lack of air?"

"You know exactly what I mean!" Gord growled in exasperation, not liking his friend's joke at all. "Don't tell anyone about this"

"Mph! I can't promise you. You know how talkative I get once I pick up a bottle of tasty beer" the minotaur replied with a laugh.

"Then stop drinking! It won't hurt you for a couple of days!" Gord hissed in exasperation, only making his friend laugh more. The lizardman scratched his head in stress, then decided to change the subject: "Listen, Brenno... can I ask you a question?"

"Of course! You just asked me one!" the minotaur pointed out to him.

For the sake of decency (and his sanity) Gord refrained from comment and concentrated on what he wanted to ask: "I know that the vote of every member of the Council is secret, so feel free not to answer me if you don't want to… but how do you think we should act? Yes, well... do you agree with what Haku says? Should we cultivate outside the desert?"

He expected Brenno to at least hesitate a moment to answer, but the minotaur spoke immediately. "Absolutely yes. I have no doubts about that and I'm not afraid to shout it from the rooftops. This is our home now, and I don't want to ruin it in any way" he said. "I don't understand much about things like natural balance, in fact, I really don't understand shit. But I know that if you overexploit a resource, sooner or later that resource runs out. And here? What is 'too much' in Such a limited place? I don't need to listen to Haku to understand that this place is so fragile that if we change anything, everything collapses in an instant. And if you allow me, I'm not going to see this place vanish. It's too fucking good In short... just the fact that there are no mosquitoes, blowflies or wasps makes it a paradise! We don't have to worry about sweating, having windows closed or not taking walks at night, because there are no insects in this oasis that come to sting you, just a lot of colorful dragonflies which, if you allow this terminology, are really adorable! And all the rest? Look at these trees, these plants, everything! They make the air cool and comfortable during the day and warm and pleasant at night, they prevent the strong desert winds from reaching here leaving only a pleasant breeze, they protect us from the sun and even sandstorms... as we can even think to ruin all this? I have no intention of turning this paradise into an infernal place where one cannot leave the house during the day for fear of sunstroke, where there is a constant wind and suffocating heat, where the nights are freezing, where nothing protects us from 'to be buried by the sand and, above all, where all this greenery and all this life is gone! Does cultivating outside the oasis risk to not working? Great, then we'll try again! Better than risking my first real home turning into a wasteland"

Gord was taken aback by that speech. He would have guessed that from a lot of people, but certainly not from his goofy, funny and perpetually drunk friend. It seemed that everyone underneath was hiding very unique sides of themselves. But what most caught Gord's attention was the last sentence. "What do you mean... your first real home?"

Brenno let out a soft bellow. "Right… we never talked about this shit. Well, let's do it now. After all, you're my friend, I have no reason to keep secrets from you" he grumbled. "I didn't become a gladiator... I was born one"

Gord's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Let me finish the story, so you'll find out without having to ask me too many questions" Brenno replied, and then continued: "My father was a gladiator himself. He had become a slave in his homeland, very far from here, and then he had gone from a master to master until he reached the Jurao Kingdom where he was sold to the arena. He was good, and therefore survived. At that time, minotaurs were still quite common among the nation's slaves, and therefore there were more even among the women who... served the gladiators. I would say that it is useless to tell you how it went. My mother became pregnant but, since my father was particularly strong, the then head of the arena decided to let him keep the baby sure he would have been an even better warrior if he had received the right training. And he did: luckily for me I had a very good constitution and could fight well, and I soon became one of the strongest in that bad place. Then both my parents they died, my mother of old age, my father in a battle, and I remained in that arena, never knowing the outside world except for the tales of the other gladiators. At least until a group of dragons decided to get me out of there. So... in essence, this is my first real home, a place where I feel I belong, where I like to live. And I don't want to lose it"

Gord was left speechless. He didn't imagine that his friend had such a story behind him. Now he understood more why he liked getting drunk so much. "I am sorr..."

"Oh, don't start whining!" Brenno stopped him immediately. "This bullshit belongs to the past, and I certainly didn't tell you about it to make you feel sorry for me. I don't give a shit about these things anymore, I don't even think about the arena anymore. Now I'm here, that's what matters". He nodded to his friend. "Rather you, instead, how did you end up in that place? Now that I've told you my story, you have to return the favor. You were a prisoner of war, right?"

Gord nodded. "Exactly. They captured me in one of the first battles and so I became a slave, and since I was good in combat they sold me to the arena" he answered, then he said: "And now that I think about it... actually this place is also my home now, just like it is for you.When I was in the arena I dreamed of escaping and returning to the place where I was born, but... my land no longer exists, all the people I knew are probably already long underground, my people are here and I like living here. The past is the past, so let's focus about the present. This is my home too... and just like you, I don't want to ruin it"

Brenno smiled knowingly. "See? It is enough to see things this way and the course of action we must take becomes clear. If everyone in the Council tried to do like me, then...". He stopped suddenly. "Is that a column of smoke over there?"

Gord looked in the direction indicated and clearly saw a dark cloud rising in the distance in the forest. "It could be a fire" he said with a worried voice. "Let's go check, now!"