‘Wow,’ Garath thought with sympathy for every woman that had ever had children. Being pregnant was the single worst debuff he had ever heard of.
He sat next to Almaria on the bench outside HQ with a whole new understanding of what she was going through, but the information provided by the system concerning her symptoms raised a question in his mind. He knew it was off-topic but couldn't help himself.
“How are you able to walk so fast?” he asked. Her Dexterity was only half what it would be if she weren't pregnant and her movement speed was reduced on top of that, yet as they made their way to the bench outside, he had to pick up his natural pace to keep up with her.
Almaria looked confused. The stern expression on her face softened slightly, and then she smiled and let her arms fall to her sides. “I used my points on more Dexterity because I was so slow. I hate to be slow.”
Garath laughed. He guessed it made enough sense that she would try to counter the debuff and work the system into making pregnancy just a little less inhibiting. And it even seemed to be working for her. “You're going to move at light speed after you have your baby,” he observed, nodding at her swollen stomach.
She smiled even bigger and Garath picked up immediately that Almaria would be easy enough to charm. If he always brought up her belly or children whenever he saw her, she would soon start to relate the feelings of happiness and pride she (obviously) had toward her spawnlings to speaking with him.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked.
“That's right,” she said, nodding. Her expression changed again to the stern, no-nonsense Latina that had approached him before and she folded her arms over her stomach again. “Me and my family are glad we found your group, so please do not be sad, but you have to make the Dragon go to live somewhere else.”
Garath was shocked, he had expected her to ask for help with something or make a complaint about her assigned living quarters or something. It was true that Aldrasyl had been spending the daylight hours soaking in golden sunlight on the roof of the old building. Garath assumed he would have to have this conversation sooner or later but after a few days without comment from anyone about it, the concern became just another thing to address if and when it became an issue. Apparently that was right now.
“What, Aldrasyl?” he asked dumbly.
“It lives on the roof? Big, white Dragon? I think it killed you the other day?” she said, looking at him and wondering just how many Dragons this demonic looking man had seen living on the roof.
“That's Aldrasyl,” he confirmed.
“Okay,” she said with one eyebrow raised threateningly and waited, tapping one foot rapidly against the pavement.
Garath didn't know what to say. It's not like he had invited the Ice Drake to take up residence on the roof. “You want me to make him leave,” he said, imagining how that conversation would go with the Ice Drake.
“Not just me, mijo,” she told him. “Everyone has been talking about that thing. Everyone is scared. I am scared. I am scared for my children and I am scared for myself.”
“I understand,” he started, pausing to scratch at his growing stubble - and to follow Sharon's favorite piece of advice to give, even though she rarely followed it herself - to think before he speaks. “But I don't know if I can, Almaria.”
“You have to, or people will start to leave this place.”
Garath hadn't considered that. He wasn't forcing anyone to stay though, and felt it was each person's prerogative to stay with The Band or move on and make their own way. Still, he wanted everyone who chose to stay to feel like they had a safe place to live. He waited a moment to let her know he took her words seriously and then nodded.
“I know it may be hard to swallow, but I promise he won't hurt anyone in The Band,” he told her softly, even knowing it wouldn't change the way she felt. “When we fought, and we both died, some things happened that I can't really explain. What I can tell you is that I can communicate with him, that he will probably follow me anywhere I go, and that he won't hurt anyone friendly to me unless he has a damn good reason to.”
“How can you promise that?” she asked incredulously, shifting uncomfortably on the bench. “Dragons killed more people than anything else that day. What if it gets hungry? What then? Or what if it changes its mind? How can you know?”
“I don't…” he started to reply, but was cut off.
“You can't. You can't know for sure.”
Garath considered her position, and she did have a legitimate concern, he couldn't deny that and wouldn't dare to try even if he could.
“Almaria, I don't think there's any way I can convince you that he's not a threat to us here. I really do want everyone to feel safe at our new home here but I literally can't force Aldrasyl to do anything. He is much more powerful than any of us. The truth is, if he wanted to kill all of us right now, he could. But don't you think he would have already if that's what he wanted? He doesn't have any reason to hurt us. And just by being there, Aldrasyl actually makes this building safer.”
Almaria listened quietly to his reply, but wasn't having any of it. Her arms folded, she looked away from the Necrologist and exhaled in frustration.
“Listen, I have a few more things to take care tonight so I need to get going but I want you to know that it means a lot to me that you trust me
