Drake watched as the golden troll stepped forward and carefully picked up the egg. Shimmering golden tears fell from his enormous eyes, dropping onto the golden egg.

She held the egg close to her heart as golden tears flowed. She swallowed visibly.

"I am Gelda. I guard bridge." She declared. Her eyes were still on the egg. Drake wasn't sure if she was speaking to the large egg or to him. Her eyes had stayed fixed on the egg since the moment he had taken it out of the 'storage' book.

Drake waited in silence, letting the troll have all the time she needed with her egg. He felt that if he interrupted her, it would upset her. He could tell that she was emotional and needed time to process that she had regained the large egg.

After waiting for some time, Drake finally spoke. "I am Drake, the dimension master's heir. I am pleased that you are happy to have the egg returned to you."

Gelda nodded, her eyes still fixed on the egg. "I thank for its return."

"When you're ready, please tell me what payment is required to obtain the pendant you have under your bridge. We will wait until you are ready. I can see you haven't had your egg in a long time. You need time with it. We will wait here as long as you need for you to be ready."

Drake bowed again before walking slowly toward his friends. He gestured subtly for them to stay quiet, pressing his finger against his lips. They nodded in understanding, then sat down where they stood, while Drake approached them.

Drake sat down next to his friends and watched Gelda caress the golden egg. She turned and then headed back under the bridge, taking the golden egg with her.

"How long do we need to stay here waiting?" Mike whispered.

Drake smiled, his gaze on the bridge. "As long as Gelda needs to be with her egg. I think our grandfathers stole it from her. I'm glad she has it back. When I was looking through the items that I received from our fight with our grandfathers, I found the egg. The moment I saw her, I knew it belonged to her."

"Will the egg be enough to get the pendant?" Mike asked.

"I didn't give her the egg as payment. I was only returning it to its rightful owner. Gelda will let us know what she wants when she's ready to tell us. I want to give her time with her egg."

Renn padded up to Drake and lay down, resting her massive head on his lap. He stroked her fur absently, waiting for Gelda to tell them what she wanted as payment.

Ruby, transformed into her tiny form, leaped onto his shoulder, snuggling behind his hair.

Unbeknownst to Drake and his cohort, Gelda was watching them. She was trying to figure out what to do. Her gaze moved to the two beasts snuggling up to the dimension master's heir, then back to the three boys. Her last encounter didn't go well with the trio that was like them, but much older. It wasn't during a quest; it was for no apparent reason. They had come to steal her egg. From what she could overhear, the boys had fought the trio that had taken her child.

She wanted to repay them for giving it back, but wanted to watch them a little while longer. When she heard the young Drake's words, it piqued her interest. He wanted to give her time to bond with her egg. That revealed a lot about his character. It seemed much better than the ones who stole from her.

The two beasts that snuggled up to him had glowing green eyes. She knew what that meant. The beasts either were his familiars or his allies. She had heard that the newest dimension master had made Protector an ally, but didn't know if it was the heirs in front of her or the current set that had already passed their tests. She could tell by the look of the two beasts that it was probably the heirs in front of her.

Drake lay down on the grass of the clearing as he waited for Gelda to come out from under the bridge to tell him what she wanted as payment.

"I wonder what the next quest is," Chad whispered. "I didn't like this one. Finding out our grandfathers are psychos wasn't a fun experience. It was painful having all the power sucked out, too. I'm glad the dimension gave it back and took theirs away. They abused their power and tried to rule this place."

"We're not meant to rule; we're meant to protect," Drake whispered back, trying not to let Gelda hear their conversation. "Our entire purpose is to keep the peace. They chose not to. They deserved what they got."

"I guess now we know why our fathers never talk about them," Mike stated. His tone was sarcastic. "Makes me glad that we didn't have to hear about them."

"I wonder how long we have to wait," Chad whispered.

Drake turned his head and looked at his friend. "If you had a child, and someone took it from you, and suddenly you got it back, would you want to take your time to re-bond with the child, or would you rather have someone rush you to?" he asked. "I would rather wait for her to be ready. If I were in her position, I wouldn't want to be rushed."

Chad nodded. "I agree. We need to give her the time she needs."

"You guys are right. She'll come out when she's ready, not before. If it gets too late, we can always set up the cabin and spend another night. This isn't a timed quest, so it's not like we're on a time crunch," Mike agreed.

Gelda heard their words as they whispered to each other, all of them wishing her to take the time she needed with her baby. She was pleased that they put her needs first. She knew about the quest. They deserved to have the pendant given to them without further payment. She had to be sure, though.

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