"Kid? You okay?"
Darrof awoke sometime later, not realizing he'd fallen asleep. Rolf was standing over him and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh good, you were just asleep." the norn said, "I was worried for a moment."
Darrof sat up and straightened the fur coat that had bunched up beneath him. So that's why his limbs felt numb again. He moved his legs to get blood moving through them again, wincing at the pins and needles.
Once the feeling returned, he wrapped himself more tightly in the fur, looking once again like a ball of fluff. Rolf smirked as the little asura struggled around in the fur, waiting until Darrof was ready.
When the asuran child considered himself sufficiently insulated, he uncovered his face and looked up at Rolf with curious eyes.
"You came back, norn."
"Of course I did, Gronda! Here, I brought you something."
"My name is Da- *cough* *cough*" Darrof was interrupted as his nostrils filled with the stench of Rolf's Famous Meaty Medley Soup, as Rolf called it.
"It's just about supper time now, so I brought you some leftovers." Rolf said enthusiastically.
No longer on the brink of death, Darrof was now able to regard the dish with the revulsion it deserved. He expressed this maturely by crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out.
"Oh, I get it." Rolf said, slurping from the bowl himself, "Not really a flavor you're used to, is it? No matter, it's a bit of an acquired taste anyway. But the charr that travel through here love it."
"Of course the charr love it!" Darrof protested, "All they eat is meat!"
"Yeah, I guess that's not a fair comparison, then." Rolf said between gulps of the soup, "I could bring some bread. Would that be better?"
"I guess, but I've lost my appetite now, anyway."
"Later, then." Rolf finished the soup and set the bowl down in the snow. He checked the fire on top of the mound.
"Hmm, seems okay, still. Might need to add a little more."
He pulled a couple twigs off the pine tree, now looking somewhat damaged from the constant loss of branches. He broke the twigs into pieces and dropped them into the bundle. Meanwhile, Darrof tried to kick the empty bowl away without leaving the warmth of the fur.
With the fire stoked, Rolf turned his attention back to the asura.
"I'm serious about that snowstorm," he said, "At least let me build you a shelter or something."
Darrof wanted to object, but couldn't deny that the temperature seemed to be dropping again.
"Fine." he relented, "You can get the supplies, but I can build a tent by myself."
Rolf smiled and ran off toward the lodge.
Darrof stood up and traced a rectangle in the snow. The start of his grand design. He'd never actually pitched a tent before, but how hard could it be? At the very least, if that norn could do it, so could he. That would show him, that would show everyone that Progeny Darrof was not a bookah.
Bookah, that's what they called him. A big, clumsy, unintelligent creature who just went around breaking things. Like… like that norn. Not Darrof. Darrof was smart, no matter what his parents said. And he would prove it with this tent.
Why, he would make the greatest tent Tyria had ever seen. It would be several stories tall, and it would evoke the cubist architecture that was in vogue back in Rata Sum, and um, and it would protect against all forms of weather, not just snow, oh and a magical barrier generator to keep out anyone Darrof didn't like, and that's not all, it would uh, fly through the air, and it would make him breakfast, and-
"I'm back."
Darrof turned around to see his unwanted helper standing there carrying some sticks and a tarp. Rolf was surprised to see the asura out of his blanket.
"Um, what are you doing?" he asked.
"What does it look like? I'm formulating a plan. See? I made a blueprint."
"You made a rectangle."
"It's a work in progress! You just don't understand my genius."
"Apparently not. Come over here, genius. I'll show you how to do it."
Rolf began demonstrating how to pitch a tent properly. Darrof watched as, in less than a minute, the norn had created a shelter that was stable, functional, and wholly underwhelming.
"I can't stay in this!" Darrof protested, "Where's the generator and extra floors and force field and breakfast and-?"
"Breakfast?" the norn asked in confusion.
"Forget the breakfast!" Darrof screamed, "How am I going to impress anyone in this!?"
"It doesn't have to be impressive. It just has to keep you safe."
"You don't get it!" Darrof kicked the tent, collapsing one corner of it, though the effect was probably not as dramatic as he'd hoped.
Rolf took a breath and massaged his brow, saying, "You know, kid, you're really starting to test my patience here."
"That makes two of us." Darrof shot back, "Just watch. I'll show you how an asura builds a tent!"
He started grabbing some fallen branches and fumbling around with them trying to get them to stand up. The more his efforts proved futile, the harder he tried.
Rolf was more focused on the sky. The clouds were becoming thicker and darker. There wasn't much time left. Why did this kid have to be so stubborn? Rolf was trying to keep him safe, but the asura wouldn't even get in the tent.
The old norn sighed. He was doing all he could. He couldn't force the kid to listen to him, after all. He helped in any way he could, but the rest was out of his hands.
He fixed the corner of the tent and added some extra fortification so it wouldn't collapse again. He looked over at Darrof, who had finally snapped his sticks in half out of frustration.
"Arrgh! Why!? Why can't I do this? Why do I always break everything?" Darrof screamed at the sticks, tears beginning to form in his eyes. When he was finally out of breath, he fell backward and laid in the snow.
"I… I really am dumber than a norn." He said quietly.
"Hey, hold on now. You're not dumb." Rolf said to him, "Just because you can't build a tent on your first try, with no instruction, doesn't make you dumb, or useless, or whatever else you're telling yourself. I can build one, because I've had a lifetime of practice. This is what we do to survive out here, and if you stay here long, you'll get the hang of it too."
"I don't wanna stay here." Darrof grumbled.
Rolf sat down next to the asura, who turned away from him and was only half listening. "And by the way, stop using norn as a baseline for stupidity. Just because we aren't up on all of that academic and theoretical nonsense you asura come up with doesn't make us dumb. Okay, well, maybe comparatively it does, but we don't need knowledge like that. We just need to know how to survive up here in the mountains.
That includes knowing how to build tents, or knowing how to gather resources from our surroundings, or knowing that a huge blizzard will be here in less than an hour, and that a creature your size has absolutely no chance of surviving it outside of shelter.
So please, just get in the tent, okay?"
Darrof didn't say anything, but a minute later, he got up and silently crawled into the tent Rolf built.
"Thank you." said the small voice inside the tent.
"Thank you for listening." Rolf breathed a sigh of relief. "Is there anything else I can-"
"No. You've done enough." the asura interrupted harshly, before hesitantly adding, "I'm sorry. I know you want to help, but I have to go home with my parents, so I'd rather not get too attached."
"I… I understand." Rolf relented, turning away. "Then I suppose this is farewell. I wish you the best, Gronda. Please stay safe out here."
Rolf took one last look at the tent before trudging back down the mountain.
"...It's Darrof." the young asura finally worked up the nerve to say.
But the norn was no longer there.