#tsova

Chewing, along with general stretches and yawning, was a welcome sensation for Kriv after being in the back of his own head for so long. Lacha was kind enough to bring him something to eat despite the day's events, and after a while Kriv had once again consumed more than several other party members could combined. The inn itself was quiet now, Ditto and Amaranth upstairs, Voski and Erwyn quietly recovering from their efforts with the townsfolk in the dining area. Kriv interacted a bit with Lacha and the kids, but after a while sat quietly by himself as well.

"Tsova?" he said, inwardly.

"I am here," the soft voice replied.

"Right," he said, keeping his eyes trained on the shelves in front of him. "How are you holding up?"

"I... do not know. Everything has changed so much, and I am very weak." "Changed?"

"This world. These people. I remember when there were no other things living here that spoke, expect for the dragons and my own people. Now there are so many of you."

"Oh. Wow, that is a long time ago, then," Kriv said, laughing a little. "I'm afraid I'm not the one who can fill the gaps between then and now. Compared to you we're all so young, and compared to my own companions I'm even younger. But I'd like to help you understand the world as it is now, if I can." 

"That is very kind," Tsova answered. You have been . . . so very kind. But I wonder if there is much point. I am here to testify, if I can, and then I will leave you and return to the emptiness where the dead gods sleep, and I do not know if I will awaken again."

Kriv knitted his brows together in concern. "Of course you will," he said, tapping a claw on the bar. He eyed the door to the kitchen. "But if it would help, we can go check on them. 'The future'. They are your charges, after all."

He could feel the swell of emotion before Tsova put any of it into words, but eventually they responded, "Yes. If you are willing, I would like that very much." Kriv smiled and stood up. He walked to the kitchen door, giving it a quiet knock. After a moment the door opened and Lacha peered around it. Her hands were covered in flour and bread dough, and she seemed relieved to see Kriv standing there.

He smiled and gave a little wave. "Sorry to interrupt, but would it be all right if I went to speak with our kobold friends?"

Lacha shrugged apologetically and said, "You hardly need to ask me for permission."

"It is still your kitchen!" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "My mother would kill me if I came barging through here."

Lacha actually laughed at that. "Well," she said, "I'm glad your mother taught you good manners." She was interrupted as Karvel and Nika, noticing Kriv in the doorway, came barreling up to her. Nika leapt at Kriv and attached herself limpet-like to his leg. Lacha smiled sheepishly and said, "Do you have any advice on making those lessons stick?"

Kriv laughed, still braced against the doorway from Nika's impact. "My mother had three children before myself that could spit lightning. She had a will of steel." He sent Karvel a quick look. "But a good nature helps, which both of yours definitely have. I'm sure they know to be good to their mother."

"Of course we do!" Karvel piped up. Nika nodded enthusiastically, though she didn't let go of Kriv's leg. Lacha smiled and stepped back into the kitchen. "Come, my loves," she called. "Our guest has business to attend to. Now, who wants to help me shape the dough?"

Kriv sighed contentedly and moved toward the cellar door as his leg was finally released from Nika's iron grip and the children followed their mother away to more exciting (and messy) business. Opening the door, he put a hand beside his mouth and said, "Excuse me? Any kobolds around?"

After a pause, a distinctly Draconic voice called out, "What are you planning to do if I say 'no'?"

"... Technically I would have to come down and give you a lecture on why lying is wrong, but time is short and neither of us want that, do we?"

"No, no, not at all! What do you need, brother?"

"We left a large group of eggs in your care recently and wished to check up on them!"

Kriv saw the kobold's eyes gleam in the dim light as they leaned out around the bottom of the stairs. "Of course, of course! You are welcome to! Let me lead the way to make sure you will be safe!" Kriv gave a thumbs up, pulling the blindsense scarf over his eyes and making his way down the stairs.

it was a longish walk with one or two tight squeezes and one occasion where the kobold leading him called out, "Wait! If you could just stay . . . very still . . . for a moment! Everything will be fine!" and he heard a series of creaks and thuds off to the side as they scampered to disable whatever trap he'd almost sprung. But eventually Kriv found himself standing in a rounded chamber with a shallow moss-lined depression in the center and the eggs they'd taken from the forest laid gently inside of it. The kobold who had been guarding it bowed to him and drew back into the tunnels as he approached.

"Thanks, brother!" he said, then continued inwardly. "Would it be all right to light a torch here by the entrance? It would give you a better look than my scarf." "Yes," said Tsova. "I would like that. Until you called me back, I had not seen light in a very long time."

Kriv nodded and said nothing, reaching into his bag to fish out a torch. He stuck it in the ground firmly and lit it, illuminating the chamber. "Here they are, secure until we can relocate them to their home."

"Home," said Tsova, soft as an echo. Kriv stood there for a long moment in silence, letting them look. The soft gray surface of the eggs flickered with a pearly sheen in the torchlight. Eventually, Tsova whispered, "Will you hold one for me?"

"Of course," he replied. He walked closer to the eggs and sat down, crossing his legs. Carefully, he picked one from the bunch and cradled it in both hands. The surface of the egg was smooth and slightly soft, like leather. Kriv felt his tongue move as Tsova said something in the strange clicking language of the Caftner. A blessing, maybe, or a prayer. Whatever it was, it didn't have any obvious effect. Inside his head, Kriv heard the lost god ask, "Do you truly believe that they can be awoken? They have slept for so long."

"Yes," he said softly, looking down at the egg in his hands. "They will wake up. I do not know how long it will take, but they will." He lightly moved his thumb against the shell of the egg. "They deserve to wake up for the first time."

"Yes.”

He felt Tsova's presence grow, not as it had before when he had been pushed into the back of his own mind, but like a steady flame centered deep in his chest, almost too much for him to contain. A scrape on his arm from one of Tsova's earlier mishaps knitted itself together and the air around him seemed to buzz in his ears, like the heavy, quiet moments before a summer storm.

"I will protect them."

For the first time since they had remembered who they were, the uncertainty was gone from their voice.