Chapter 25: Yare

By rule of thumb every guardsman has seen a plethora of odd situations. A parade of dog like people marching in, fish literally out of the water, flying pigs, just to mention a few. It came with the job, stuff happens when guarding the gates and royals of Hyrule.

And yet somehow Nathan still managed to be surprised by the scene in front of him.

He, along with a few more guardsman, were appointed to join the party that was accompanying the princess on a business trip to the Eldin Caves. She was to discuss a new trading partnership with the Reptilian Clan. Although the extra protection wasn't necessarily needed, it was still mandatory and so Nathan had tagged along on this new venture.

It was here that he witnessed the Dragon Knight that the troops who returned from the Dimensional Wars spoke so highly of. The man fit every description told of him: tall, muscular, and intimidating to behold.

Well maybe not that last one, he's not sure how intimidating anyone can be with a simple braid and what looked to pass as, business casual, clothing. Perhaps in battle he truly is terrifying. But here he just looks so, dare he say, friendly.

He observed the knight's interaction with the royal. It looked formal to the outside viewer but to one who had spent a bit more time with the princess can tell that this meeting was anything but that. The two were very relaxed in posture, facial expressions actually showing, and he can see that they weren't even cautious about their surroundings. Just completely trusting that the other party wouldn't even think about harming the other. It even put him at ease.

Which probably caused the next few moments.

As Nathan "guarded" the entrance of the cave, along with the Lizalfos that was posted there too, he heard a small scrabbling sound. Pausing his conversation with Iro he looked around for the source of the scrabbling. He felt a clawed tap on the shoulder and was directed to look up. There slithering across the roof of the cave was a small figure, if he had to guess he'd say it was most likely a dinolfos.

Before he could do anything two things happened simultaneously. Iro pulled his arm, startling him from doing anything, and the small figure gave into the pull of gravity.

In a move that seemed long sufferingly practiced, the dragon knight fluidly twisted as he stood and spread his arms slightly open with his hands in a loose grip position.

The small figure landed perfectly in his awaiting grasp.

Just when Nathan thought his jaw couldn't go any further he witnessed a facial expression he couldn't quite pin down flash across the dragon's face. It looked like a mixture of pride, fondness, and maybe a bit of exasperation. That's when he noticed that yes it was in fact a small dinolfos and that bit of annoyance in the expression wasn't imagined as the dragon turned around to face the princess with an apology. It was surreal to see such a monstrous man slightly flushed, holding a small squirming child, all the while trying to maintain his masked composure. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was having a hard time maintaining their composure as the princess appeared to be holding back some rather undignified laughter of her own.

She must have said something about the child being allowed to stay as the dragon quickly held the youngling in front of him with a stern look and gave what could only be a command to behave as he sat down again. Only this time with the juvenile dinolfos sitting comfortably on his lap.

And on the meeting went as if nothing happened.

If only it stayed that way.

As time passed more little ones appeared. They settled around the dragon at first but some of them braved the foreign princess and sat close by. One even ventured to sit directly to her right, seemingly gloating at the others. A single look dropped it down a peg.

As Nathan continued to observe this oddly domestic scene he couldn't help but feel as though he were intruding in on something highly personal. So when one of the little aefros decided it had a long day and feel asleep on the ever busy guardian, and the arm holding it tightened just slightly, he turned around and continued his conversation with Iro.

Eventually the cave grew silent but nobody was exiting. Concerned, the two guards peeked inside and were greeted by a comical sight. Two outstanding leaders, fearsome by their own right, grounded to floor by a lounge of juveniles who decided to nap on the unsuspecting adults

A/N: I LIIIIIVE! Sorry for the long hiatus but I realized that it's been almost a year since I started this story and by golly I'm gonna finish it before then. Or at least on the day. Most of Chapter Z is written up so there shouldn't be too much of a wait. Also I made a poll for what to do after I'm done with this, I got a lot of ideas but no direction so it would be great to hear a bit of your input of what you guys want.

Anywho, enough of that. Onward with the chapter notes.

So this ended up being rewritten about two times. It was the same exact concept but a completely different tone and I'm glad I changed it. The basis of the chapter was to kinda spotlight Volga's caring nature. It was show throughout the game in small bits but the guy really cared about the people under his command. I think a bit more than the other warriors considering he would tell people he's "rescued" to save their strength and rest. I'm pretty sure if given the option he would outright mad dash the injured party straight out of the battlefield and into a field hospital, demanding they stay put until their healed. Considering that I figured why not make him a sort of protective parental figure to the little ones he would care for the most. He would try his best to make sure that they're lives wouldn't be miserable and too dangerous for them, that they'll feel safe wherever they go. I actually had him adopt three of them in the AU. They actually made a cameo in the story I'll let you guys figure it out, it's pretty obvious who they are.

Up Next: The early bird get to be fried!