Hey Yo! NerdRyuu here, realizing my intro kinda sounds like scottthewoz's... Nevermind that, here's the tenth chapter of Udan's Legends!

Last chapter, our adventurers along with a new ally, Leni Giddhaltama, sailed to the island of Annecia to end the unrelenting storm over it! there Lincoln managed to relit it's lighthouse! Let's see what happens next!

But first, Let's see this month's questions!

guest 99: 2 quick questions do you plan on giving Lincoln any pets which might be helpful and did u read my July 20th review about the story idea I proposed

About the first, I am flirting with the idea of giving Linc a pseudo-pet in the future, but not comited to the idea yet, and the second, I've readed several DMs with story proposals, but I don't know which is yours.

Tornado Man: About Luan is she going to be a minor villain or one of the major villains

While Luan will be a major character in the near future, and she'll be the antagonist when she returns, she won't be one of the main, major villains.

Without any further ado, let's start this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT Own The Loud House

The four adventurers descended from the Lighthouse, ready to on their way to rest on Elven's shack that he had landed them and evaluate their options. They lit the oven up the place, illuminating the room with a cozy orange twinkling light of the flames.

The storm didn't seemed it would stop any time soon, now that they had arrived on that island, they didn't had other options other than finding the source of the rains and stop it, or they would be pretty much stuck on that island.

They had arrived there by sheer luck, and still ended wrecking their boat.

"Where do we even start looking?" Lynn asked the others as she dove onto one of the chairs.

"My first suggestion is to go speak with the Jarl." Lincoln spoke, sitting in another chair by Lynn's side.

"Yeah, logically it's the best option we have." Luna admitted. "Not the most thrilling one, but, we don't want to waste time under this storm." The musician shook her head, fortunately he was the farthest from them, so she didn't wet the others (even more).

"The most obvious answer is often the true one." Leni said. Lynn hummed in agreement.

"But what if it isn't ?" The knight asked Leni, challenging the elf with a curious smirk.

"What if is what?" Leni asked confused. Lynn rolled her eyes again but continued with her subtle smirk on her lips.

"Nothing." She spoke to the elf, who hummed a response. The elf was snooping around Elven's belongings.

It seemed that the old lighthouse keeper also fished as half a dozen of different bamboo fishing rods rested atop one of the shelves, along with diverse shaped lures and fishing hooks that rested in a organized mess.

Among the lures and hooks Leni noted some odd trinkets, shells, small gemstones and even a single pearl. "Elven must collect the things he fishes" Leni spoke out loud her suspicion. "Look at this hook!" She showed one old hook that was so rusty and corroded that it had to have been underwater for a long time.

"And this mossy stone!" She pulled a rather large stone that was indeed covered in moss and barnacles. Lincoln eyed that stone and his eyes widen.

"Wait!" He said standing up. "Can I see this more closely?" He asked reaching for the stone.

"Of course." Leni and the others looked Lincoln carefully grab the stone and inspect for some seconds, then he started to rip the moss off the stone, dirtying his hands and table. He then nodded with a smile in his mouth.

"It indeed it is!" He said cheerful "It's a piece of the Dragon Mural!"

"Dragon mural?" The girls repeated, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Lady Cass told me about them, the pieces of the Dragon Mural of Windholm! It was shattered in the legendary war, I promised that to try to find them all! What a luck!" He said putting the piece on his satchel.

"Wait, isn't that, like theft?" Luna asked with a smug luck, making Lincoln flinch as he realized what he was doing.

"Huh… Well… for him it was just a piece of rock!" He said, trying to excuse himself.

"Yeah, but why'd he kept it?" Luna asked, still wearing her smug look.

"Why'd he kept a rusty fishing hook that it's a health hazard waiting to happen?" Lincoln answered to a pointing to the shelf where Leni had left said hook.

"Eh, fair point." Luna said shrugging. "Someone wants a music?" She asked changing the subject as she pulled her Ax from her back. "Why am I asking? Of course yah wanna some!" began playing with her instrument a upbeat tune. Lynn sighed and started tapping her foot on the rhythm of the song.

"Does anyone knows where the Jarl lives anyway?" Lynn asked, realizing she didn't knew where they would need to go to find the ruler of Annecia.

"I suppose that following the road up north, we'll eventually find his home." Lincoln. He responded, resting his chin over his hand, before realizing his hand was still dirty from the moss he picked off the stone. "Ack!" He grumbled cleaning his hands on his robes.

Lynn muttered unintelligibly under her breath and asked. "Is anyone also hungry as hell?" the other three nodded and or answered positively to her question, Nin's sweet buns were a good treat to forget the hunger, but they needed to admit, none of the. Had a good full meal.

"Hold a minute!" Lincoln said grabbing his satchel and placing it on the table, opened and put his entire arm in it and pulling a entire loaf of bread carefully wrapped in a sheet of butter paper, unraveling it over the table.

"You had that since when?" Lynn asked surprised.

"Since we departed from Eriol. Mr. Howard and Mr. Harold insisted to me that we packed as much supplies." Lincoln said, pulling from the bag also a entire tea set, complete with a metal kettle.

Lynn lifted an eyebrow. "Do you plan to make us tea or something?"

"Uh, I love tea!" Leni said rapidly walking up to the kettle and fetching it. "Did any of you ever tried elven ears?" She asked as she extended the kettle outside the shack by the door to gather water.

"What? Ew, no!" Lynn Said gagging a little.

"Oh, it's not that bad." Leni said, putting the kettle over the warm oven. And looking to the knight.

"I'll not drink nothing from a elf's ear! That's disgusting." Leni immediately chuckled.

"Elven Ears is a herb we elves cultivate." Leni explained, grabbing from her waist a tiny bag tied with a string. The elf untied it and grabbed a single pale leaf from it, that herb indeed lived up to it's name, as it resembled Leni's own ears. "A single ear must be enough…" The elf spoke to herself dropping the leaf onto the kettle.

While Leni prepared the tea, Lincoln and Lynn prepared the table for the meal they were going to have, Lincoln pulled things from his bag, tomatoes, a entire head of cabbage, other loaf of bread, two sticks of butter, and even an entire wheel of goat cheese. All while Lynn burrowed the cutlery Elven had and place for them.

"Okay, the tea is ready!" Leni said grabbing the kettle with a old cloth that laid near the oven, to not burn herself and brought it to the table.

"Wanna join Luna?" Lincoln asked the musician that laid back, still playing her ax.

"Oh yeah, I'm starving!" She said putting the ax aside and taking a seat by the table.

"Tell me what you think." Leni asked as she served them the Elven Ear tea. "Be honest, please.

Lincoln lifted his cup up to his nose. It had a pleasant aroma that reminded Lincoln, son of a shopkeeper of a apothecary, the smell of freshly harvested Nairn Roots. He blew a little and sipped it, taking his time to savor the taste. He felt the aroma in his mouth, and the taste was sweet, with a tiny hint of bitterness and even a little salty. It tasted exactly how it smelled.

"It tastes amazing!" Luna voiced her opinion before Lincoln could muster those words by himself.

"Luna's right! Lincoln said, still feeling the aftertaste on his mouth.

"A little too sweet for my taste." Lynn spoke and made a small smile. "But it's good nonetheless." She made another sip and looked at Leni with her side smile. "I like my tea bitter."

Lincoln chuckled at her blatant attempt to look cool. "What?" Lynn asked frowning to the boy.

"Nothing…" He responded. "But I remember when we were children, you were crazy for sweets."

"Was she?" Luna said smirking to Lynn.

"No I was not!" Lynn responded quickly, blushing embarrassed.

"I remember once she an entire batch of sugar buns, intended for an entire party!" Lincoln remembered chuckling.

"I was making a sacrifice!" Lynn said, trying to defend herself, still beet red in embarrassment.

"When she was confronted, she said that the buns were poisoned!" Lincoln clarified, before bursting in laughter, accompanied by Luna and even Leni. Lynn pursed her lips, feeling so much embarrassed that she could throw herself from the coastline.

And so, the conversation continued with embarrassing tales from the two childhood friends. The four talked and feasted, enjoying the tea, bread and cheese, laughing at the weird antics the two Eriolians had.

"I wish I had a childhood so fun like yours." Luna said resting her elbows on the table after laughing about a particularly funny story Lynn had told them about how she almost burnt her father's eyebrows off.

"Oh, yeah, how was your life?" Leni asked, oblivious to the somber tone of the musician.

"I…" Luna sighed. "Didn't had a fun childhood really… My mother obligated me and my sisters to train as a assassin and mercenary all my life…" Leni mouthed and oh when Luna made a pause. "I think the only… fun memories I have are with my father… When he taught me to play and modified an ace for me to he able to play while still being a weapon, so my mother would keep her mouth shut about it…"

"I see…" Leni said with a gentle tone.

"But don't think about me as an criminal! I made the choice to not be what they made me!" Luna raised an accusatory finger to Leni.

"And are you happy with your choice?" Leni asked plainly. Luna was taken aback with that question. Lincoln and Lynn observed attentively to Luna, afraid that Luna's Sorrow would return again.

"Well… My mother-" Luna started but Leni interrupted.

"I didn't asked what your mother feels. I asked you." Leni spoke in a previously unheard serious tone. Luna turned to Lincoln, as if in search for what to respond.

The young wizard extended his arm and rested his hand over hers. They looked at each other for a second, before the boy made a slight, encouraging nod and a kind slow blink.

"I… I am afraid." Luna said finally. "My relationship with mom was never very good… I thin-" Luna stopped herself before correcting her statement. "I know she sees me as a failure for the family… The Lunarossa clan claims fame and fortune in both the underworld and the elite… And I don't attend her expectations to keep the family's image. My mission was a test… But when I refused to kill anyone that saw me…"

"You didn't failed." Lincoln said before Luna could complete her statement. "When you refused to kill Sam, you didn't failed." He made a short pause before continuing. "You choose to. As you said! You choose not to be like her." Luna looked down.

"You… Are right…" She spoke with difficulty. She was feeling guilt over something she didn't need to. She was being the better person by refusing the ways of her name.

But why?

Why she felt so bad over it?

"Soooo…" Lynn spoke abruptly, turning to Leni. "And you pointy ears, what's up with you?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Me?" Leni spoke, being caught of guard.

"Yeah, what's your deal? Aside from being pretty and giving moral advices of course." Lynn responded in mocking tone.

Leni chuckled.

"You only have opportunities once. And if it appears you have, it won't be the same." Leni explained, the trio looked at her puzzled, not understanding where she was getting at. "It was said I had my life decided."

The elf looked beyond the trio, reminiscing of the words she had heard again and again.

"A life destined for happiness. For greatness." She continued. "Just for being born, that was my destiny. It was what they said." She closed her eyes, remembering the people that uttered these words to her.

The trio didn't knew what to respond, the difference between what she was saying and how she said confused them. Being destined to be happy from birth? This sounded like a dream for every one of them. Luna, with her conflict between what she wants to be and her family, Lynn, with the fire in her heart roaring for her to help and protect who she loves. Even Lincoln. His soul yearned to improve his knowledge and apply it to make the place he lived better.

"This made me blind for a long time." Leni finally continued. "My best friend." She stopped before swallow sadly. "My sister. Took that blindfold from me in the hardest way…"

"Living knowing you have to be happy won't bring happiness." Lincoln interjected as Leni made a brief pause. The elf looked at the bot and sighed.

"She lived the life that one would dream to have. A life destined to happiness. Like me." The trio looked down, realizing where she was getting with her story. "But she died unhappy. She said that even having all the gold, food and fine clothes she could want, she never saw where the Theoden River began, nor where it ended."

"But Mandy, look at your dress! It's, like, the finest silk in Udan!"

"Leni, what's the use of the warmest clothes when you never experienced cold?" The brunette elf asked with a serene demeanor, before coughing severely.

"I never saw the firehouse of Annecia, or the green plains of Eriol, Leni." Mandy coughed again. "I didn't lived the way I wanted. And I'm going to leave with this regret in my heart."

Leni grabbed the hand of her friend. The bedridden elf was as beautiful in death as she was in health.

"You will be with Lady Siddha soon dear…" Leni said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Leni? Leni!" Lincoln called, grabbing the elf out of her depressing flashback. "Are you alright?" the boy asked concerned. Leni looked at the boy for some seconds on silence.

"Y-yes… I am… thank you Linkie." The elf said wiping the tears that streamed down her cheeks. "T-that opened my eyes." She spoke. "I was enlightened that day. Lady Siddha… and Mandy, opened my eyes. I decided to live my way. I went and saw were the Theoden River began and ended, I saw the plains of Eriol, The beauty of Aramas Ravine, Sarphel Lake, the carved city of the dwarves, and now, the Annecia firehouse." She proclaimed with a proud smile.

"And where I go, I do whatever I want! If I see a person needing help, I help, If I see someone hungry, I feed them, if I want to humble a bratty girl that only cared about beauty, I humble her!"

Lynn and Lincoln glanced at each other at that last example, it sounded oddly specific.

Leni then turned to Luna. "That's why I want you to seek what you want!" Luna smiled, looking at her palms.

"Thank you." She said, before perching her ear and turning to the door. "I hear a dozen horses sprinting here." She said with a serious tone. "They're armed."

"Of course they're armed." Leni said as Lincoln and Lynn rushed to get their things inside Lincoln's satchel. "The most normal is to people have two arms!" She said with a smile, proud that she knew that fact. "well, I knew someone in my travels that only has one…"

"It's not that, airhead!" Lynn said, putting her cuirass and grabbing her sword. "She means that they have weapons, they're may be hostile."

"Oh." Leni said simply, grabbing her staff.

Moments of silence ensued, the four looking at the door, the roaring storm being the only thing the quartet was able to hear, before loud bangs on the door.

"Mr. Elven?" A male voice shouted from outside. "Are you in there? What's that bridge? Is someone in there?" Lincoln approached the door and opened. The man behind it was tall and burly, he had a steel cuirass similar to Lynn's, he bad a thick beard and a stern look, he had a long purple cape that was held together by a circular bronze badge on his left chest.

"Hello…" Lincoln greeted the man, trying to keep himself from trembling, that man was horrifying for Lincoln.

"You are not Elven." The man said, stepping inside the hut, having to lean forward a little to pass under the door. "Who are you and where is Elven!" The man demanded.

"El-Elven is by in the f-firehouse, tr-trying to k-keep the f-fire lit." Lincoln explained stuttering. "H-he a-allowed us to rest here by helping him."

"You?" The man spoke incredulous. "You mean that you four were the ones to create that ice bridge? And relit the fire?"

Lincoln nervously nodded frantically . "Linc here is a wizard." Luna said, resting her elbows on the boy's shoulder. "He single handedly created that bridge and lite the fire"

The man stood in silence for a few seconds, studying the boy, who started feeling nervous, his gaze wasn't the most pleasant. His stern look, blind right eye combined by the scar across his forehead and damp beard made him one of the more intimidating things they had faced yet. Tullius, Lynn's father could be quite scary sometimes, Lincoln remembered from his childhood. But this man was frightening. Or it was just Lincoln that had a small fear of big mean looking strangers.

"What are business in Annecia?" He questioned finally.

"S-stopping t-t-the s-storm…" Lincoln stuttered. The man furrowed his eyebrows, in surprise of the response.

"Is that so?" He asked crossing his arms.

"Yeah, we even shipwrecked getting here!" Lynn added.

The man observed them for another moment before speaking again.

"Well, any help offered is welcomed." He said softing a little his tone. "Come, you may want see the Jarl." He said turning around to leave. Lincoln sighed relieved.

"Wait, and who are you again?" Lynn questioned.

"General Snolt Trois, The Steel Bender."

"Oh, you know metal manipulation magic?" Lincoln asked curious on the prospect of someone like him knowing steel manipulation, maybe he could teach something to Lincoln.

"What's that?" Trois asked. Lincoln swallowed dry.

"I wonder why he's called Steel bender then…" Luna muttered.

General Trois and his men scouted the four, giving them a lift on their horses.

"Did you really made that ice bridge yourself? Alone?" Asked the soldier that guided the horse where Lincoln was. The guard had a young voice and had his metal helmet a little too large for him, as it partially obscured his eyes.

"Yeah, With shish and a quish, I made wish come true!" Lincoln responded joking, having his hand like he had a magic wand. The guard chuckled.

"Magic is so cool!" The soldier said. "I wanted learn it. But my dad guilt tripped me to join the army." He explained.

"Oh." Lincoln responded. "And who's your dad?" The soldier motioned his head to Trois.

"Yeah, my dad is the general of the army, is it was my grandfather, and his father and so on. He say's family tradition." The soldier said.

"That sounds rough." Lincoln commented, but the soldier shrugged.

"In the end, he knew what's was doing." The soldier said. "I'm too impatient to really learn this type of stuff." The soldier said with a laugh. "And I don't want to annoy the old man there."

"I'm hearing Zachary." The general announced out loud making his son yelp.

"Sorry Pa." Zachary said lowering his head.

Soon after, they arrived at the imposing stone castle of Annecia, with it's stone bricks of the outer wall carved out the surrounding mountain, making the inner castle seemingly impenetrable.

As the horses approached, the reddish, gigantic wooden doors slowly swung open, the roaring storm muffled the sounds of the gears being turned by the guards to open them.

The guard's horses passed through the stone portal and them they dismounted from theirs steeds, the four adventurers followed Trois and his guards inside the walls of the castle, being received by a long entrance hall, made out of stone, adorned with stone pillars carved with images of battles and glories from the past.

Sitting in the stone throne at the end of hall, a old man wearing a fine barrett a d clothes, had a pointy beard and seemed that he was waiting for the general to return, as he rested his chin using his hand and the armrest.

"Trois... You're finally back… And… who are those kids?" The Jarl asked suspicious. "They're not chained, they're not prisoners then, I presume." He said waving to the four. Trois made a reverence.

"Yes my Jarl. Those four lads claim to have relit the lighthouse." The General confirmed.

"Hum…" The Jarl examined them in silence for some moments. "And how did they reach it to relit the fire?"

"I know it may sound ludicrous my Jarl, but I've seen with my own eyes, and my men can confirm if you so desire, but they created a ice bridge to cross."

"An Ice bridge?" The Jarl repeated. "As in, a bridge made out of ice?" Trois nodded in confirmation, the Jarl scoffed. "Trois, you abuse from my trust in you."

"I am sorry my Jarl, but it is the truth." The general insisted. The Jarl tossed his head sideways.

"And whom would be even able to make such a thing possible in the first place?" Lincoln raised his hand in silence after the Jarl had made the question, making him look at the boy. "You?" Lincoln nodded in silence.

"Yeah he did!" Luna spoke then, breaking the silence, patting Lincoln's back a little too hard.

"And how'd you managed to do so?" He asked.

"Magic." Lincoln answered simply.

"Magic?" The Jarl repeated confused. Lincoln nodded. "…Huh." The jarl looked down thinking. "And… Whom are you?"

"I am Lincoln Snowtop, young wizard, these are my friends and companions, Lynn Griffinheart, Luna Acai and Leni Giddhaltama. We came to find what is causing, and stop this wretched storm!" The Jarl laughed.

"What makes you think you can stop this storm if me and my men couldn't!" The Jarl stated almost yelling. Lincoln lowered his gaze.

"Well…"

"No, really, how? Our situation is getting very bad." The Jarl said suddenly. Lincoln was caught by surprise.

"Oh, well, first, we need to find the cause of the storm-"

"Oh that's no problem! We already know who's responsible." The jarl informed.

"Oh great! So now we just- wait, you said who?"

Lincoln was horrified when the Jarl led them into the great porch and they saw it.

A gigantic dragon, it had it's scales grey, it's wings were tied down to the ground with several chains, as it's legs, tail, body and it's muzzle.

The dragon struggled and shook while soldiers poked it repeatedly with spears and pikes, however the beast's hide didn't budged, making the dragon just wince and snarl in pain.

"Nothing we did was able to kill the beast." The jarl spoke crossing his arms. Lincoln's lips were thinned like a line, he couldn't believe such sight.

"Wow, I never saw a a dragon, like, so close!" Leni said marveled.

"Several weeks ago the creature attacked the shore village west of here." Trois explained. "Me and my men managed to ground the beast with a good bola shot from our ballistas." The general sighed. "Many of ours fell, but nothing managed to penetrate it's skin."

"It's said that no man-made weapon can penetrate the hide of a dragon." Lynn said crossing her arms looking at the general.

"We already figured that out." Trois retorted.

"Because of that, we imprisoned it here in the great porch." The Jarl explained. "I thought that with time, it's skin would eventually break or we would manage to starve it to death."

Lincoln trembled, he was looking at his feet, just listening. "What your sage thinks about it?" the young wizard, still with his head low.

"That lunatic wanted me to free the creature!" The Jarl spoke with distain. "If I did that, the creature would level the entire island, as Jarl, I can't allow such thing!"

"Maybe if you didn't had imprisoned the poor beast and tortured him for weeks, this wouldn't happen." Leni suggested putting a hand on her hip. The Jarl scoffed again.

"That's exactly what Vito said when he suggested to free it." The Jarl also crossed his arms. "If I didn't imprisoned it, it would have destroyed Annecia anyways." And then he pointed to the elf. "And I don't like your tone elf!" Leni had her favce in a serious look, not shy of confronting the Jarl.

"What'd you did to the sage after that?" Lynn questioned the general.

"He tried to fight his way to the beast and free it by force." The general responded. He looked quite regretful speaking. "I knock out him before he could do so." He sighed. "He's on the dungeons now."

"And I advise you to not try to confront my decisions." The Jarl spoke up raising his head to increase his authority as the ruler. "If you don't wish to join him down there."

"No, we don't want any trouble." Lynn said eying Luna and Leni, who both looked on their edge.

"Good." The Jarl spoke satisfied. "Seriously, I don't understand why people get upset by me imprisoning a dragon, they're dangerous creatures and I just want to protect my people!"

"Oh, and about protecting the people, why'd you think the dragon is the source of the storm?" Luna asked.

"Besides it starting right when the beast appeared?" The Jarl asked rhetorically. "Everytime the dragon-"

The Jarl was interrupted when the dragon let out a loud snarl and letting out and gnaw.

Fush.

Afterwards, the deafening thunder could be heatd, and the storm seemed to intensify even more.

"…does that, the storm restarts." The Jarl concluded.

Lincoln was in silence. Looking at the dragon. It's muzzle was sealed, but the corners of it's mouth wasn't and Lincoln could she the ending of it's lips moving, the dragon was able only to vocalize with the corners of its mouths. Maybe to vocalize just that.

What sounded like a simple snarl or gnaw to every other person present there, to Lincoln was a word.

He understood that word like it was spoken by a language he always knew, just like when he heard the word for fire back on Royal Wood at the beginning of his adventure.

Torment.

Like the word for fire being able to make the speaker breath fire, that word the dragon uttered in despair made the unrelenting storm that made dozens of ships sink.

Lincoln but his lower lip, then looked at the Jarl, that was distracted, speaking with Trois, he didn't heard what instigated that conversation, but he looked around, and saw the soldiers that escorted them, including Zachary, apprehensive, looking at the dragon. The girls also were looking the beast.

Lincoln sighed, he had made his mind.

He was going to become a criminal by making something the Jarl had made explicit that he didn't wanted.

He was going to free the dragon.

N/A: This chapter was supposed to be much longer, having the rest of Annecia all in one chapter, but I ran out of time for it, so I divided it into two.

anyhow, this chapter we learned (some of) Leni's backstory! meeting this version of Mandy, who... is in a better place. we also met Udan's variant of Zack here!

Aside from that, I have not much to comment here, so well, that's all folks!

Be good, Bye!