"I`m fine," the old kobold protested. Auntie was laid up against a rock in whatever blankets they had managed to procure for her, trying feebly to get Pithy off of her as the young kobold tried to inspect her head wound. Amerigo stood idly by, holding some soup for Auntie while the two kobolds fought for dominance.

　　"You`re not, Auntie. Now stay still while I try to care for you for once."

　　Amerigo had managed to correct some of the damage, but she was lucky to have regained consciousness.

　　"How did it even happen, Auntie? I thought the orcs had all come out to fight Chicken."

　　Distracted by the question, she stopped struggling for a moment.

　　"It was some little devil of a goblin, I think. It`s a bit foggy." Her sentence trailed off. She resumed struggling after a breath. "But I need to get up and fix this. You won`t distract me with idle chatter, Pontifica Primrose."

　　The younger kobold held her down easily. "You`ll stay down because it`s good for you. Chicken has things under control."

　　She humphed and looked at Amerigo. "And what do you plan on doing with that bowl? Because I know you`re not going to try and feed me." Despite her bedridden state, her tone was fully venomous.

　　He looked bashfully at the ground. He`d been bitten by sharks, stung by mollusks, snipped by crabs, and grappled by just about everything with tentacles, but it hadn`t prepared him for dealing with a frustrated Auntie.

　　Pithy scoffed and held a hand out for the bowl. "That`s no way to thank the person that carried you over the wastes, Auntie. Maybe if he had known how you were going to act, he would have left you there." She spoke beyond her years when chiding the prickly elder. "You can go if you like," she said to the gnome standing awkwardly by the bed, "I can handle her. She just has a headache and an overgrown sense of authority."

　　"I am your Auntie, you naughty kobold," Auntie said in an injured voice.

　　"Yes, Auntie. Now eat your soup, please," Pithy replied.

　　"If anyone needs any looking-after, it`s Chicken," she said more quietly. She caught Amerigo`s eyes again. There was a pained expression on her face, but Amerigo could tell that it had nothing to do with her own injuries.

　　"I know you, caretaker," she said, "I may have never seen you before, but I know you like I know myself. I recognize how you give yourself to others."

　　Amerigo was surprised to find he did not feel awkward as she said this. Having it pointed out, he too felt the strange kinship between them.

　　"Waste no more time on an old soul. I know Chicken, having raised him like so many from hatching, and this role he has assumed is& it`s hurting him."

　　"Auntie!" Pithy said, abashed, "Chicken is more than capable-" but Auntie continued firmly over the child`s chiding, silencing her.

　　"It is hurting him because it is not right for him. Something is pushing Chicken into things he is not ready for, things he was never meant for."

　　"You mean old matron," Pithy said. "He finally finds a calling, something more than running around in the heat and wild areas, and you can`t accept it. It`s a tough job, and it`s true he wasn`t trained up for it, but that doesn`t mean we don`t support him."

　　Auntie, to Amerigo`s surprise, wasn`t angry when she looked at the young kobold.

　　"What Chicken did before, well&that was good for his soul. It wasn`t exactly respectable, and it might have seemed a lonely job, but it needed his full attention to do properly. Being the leader is something else, and while he`s old enough to make his own decisions, I know this job and I know Chicken. He`s got the wrong shaped heart to fit at the top, if you get my meaning, and he`s the kind to try and take parts of himself off to fit. He`ll leave himself behind just to please us, trying to do right by us."

　　As Pithy listened, frowning at first, her expression began to soften. Eventually she was nodding along to Auntie`s points.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

　　The old kobold looked back at Amerigo. "Help him find himself again. Please, caretaker?"

　　They held each other`s gaze for several heartbeats before Amerigo nodded.

　　Auntie sighed and laid back straight again, saying with resignation, "I am ready for soup, child." Amerigo left to find his friend.

　　Across the refuge, Amerigo found a line of kobolds. It wound several yards through the camp, terminating at an area where Chicken held judgement. Someone seemed to have built him a chair to more easily preside over matters. While he sat in it, he did not seem to relish the position. He looked like any other bored dignitary, with one elbow on an arm of the chair and his chin in his hand.

　　Amerigo traced the line to its other end and trudged over to join it.

　　The line moved very slowly. So much so that it was inevitable that Amerigo would become interested in the kobold standing in front of him. She seemed to be carrying two parts to an older clay jug.

　　Tapping her on the shoulder, he got her attention. She acknowledged him like anyone standing in a polite line would, and that was as though he had apparated out of thin air.

　　He gestured towards the jug inquisitively.

　　"It broke on the cave floor," she said sadly. "Auntie made it for me when I was small. I`m hoping Chicken can set it right."

　　Amerigo stared intently at the broken object. How could Chicken mend this? He had never once struck Amerigo as a potter, or having any interest in pottery.

　　After musing for a few minutes, Amerigo stepped out of the line. Stalking through the camp, he found what he was looking for and made his way back.

　　He presented the wet clay to the kobold with the broken pottery and gestured for her to hand the pot over.

　　She did so reluctantly.

　　Amerigo wet the clay of the pot before applying liberal amounts of the extra clay to the edges of the shards. With his fleshy fingers uncommon to the kobolds, he smoothed the sealant over, inside the pot and out.

　　It didn`t look wonderful, but it was smooth and whole again. He cast around for a fire nearby. Finding one a few steps away, he stole the kobold`s gaze and held the pot over the fire. He gestured for her to follow him.

　　She stepped out of line and approached the gnome. After some trial and error, he managed to convey his intentions. She was to rotate the pot over the fire until the clay was firm.

　　He left her to her task and joined the line again. His spot had been taken, so he started over. It may have been his hopeful attitude, but it seemed despite the new additions, to have shortened overall.

　　Before long, his attention fell on the kobold in front of him again. He was holding a snapped rope and what looked like a broken trap.

　　****

　　As Chicken listened to an issue pertaining to a breach in cubbyhole etiquette, he realized there had been a remarkable decline in petty issues. There were more legal matters, more highly complicated than simple matters of requisitioning repairs and investing time into finding creative alternatives. He let himself believe he had somehow found the source of those petty issues and stifled it.

　　Behind the kobold issuing boring precedent in the matters of the storage of favored items, something caught his eye.

　　It was Amerigo. He was standing patiently, waiting like a humble subject and not Chicken`s close friend and confidant.

　　Chicken waved the boring kobold away, his problem not yet fully stated, saying, "Amerigo! You don`t need to wait in line to see me!"

　　Amerigo looked apologetically at the kobold before him, stepping sheepishly around the snubbed party to embrace Chicken who was getting up from his chair.

　　"You must have been waiting forever in that line," Chicken said.

　　Amerigo simply shrugged.

　　"I`m glad you`re here. This work is torture." Chicken stretched, both for emphasis and to limber up his joints from sitting for so long.

　　Amerigo began to gesture in complex fashion.

　　"I definitely need saved. Pull me away from this. Please." He started walking away, towards the camp, but Amerigo grabbed his shoulder and went through the gestures again.

　　"What? I don`t understand."

　　Amerigo went through the gestures a third time, more slowly.

　　"Oh no," Chicken moaned. His face drooped. "You want something from me too."

　　Amerigo rolled his eyes. Chicken rubbed his with the palms of his hands.

　　"I`ve only just brought all these kobolds here. I`ve been saving the world all day. And now you need something from me?"

　　Amerigo stepped away from camp, gesturing for Chicken to follow.

　　"No. I can`t. I need rest and I need& I need to do nothing for a while. I need to slumber."

　　Amerigo grabbed his friend`s hand.

　　Don`t touch me!

　　The thought flashed through Chicken`s mind like lightning. He pulled his hand back, startled and suddenly angry.

　　"I said I won`t!" he snapped, "I`m needed here! You don`t understand how much everyone`s problems are dragging on me."

　　Amerigo looked hurt, but Chicken pressed further.

　　I deserve&

　　"I deserve some peace and quiet. But since coming here, it`s been work work work.." His voice gradually descended into a hiss.

　　It`s mine&.

　　"This village is mine. It`s here because of me, and it`s my responsibility. You want to pull me away from it!"

　　Stay away&

　　"But keep off me. I don`t need your selfish demands. Help us here. Find something useful to do for once."

　　His voice at moments pleading, at moments furious, at first confused Amerigo, then cut him, then spurred his anger and indignity.

　　Chicken saw the effects of his words plainly on his friend`s face, but knew that it was too late now.

　　"I need a break. I need to go flying or something. Don`t follow me if you`re just going to ask me for stuff." Chicken pushed past Amerigo and strode in the direction of the cave exit.

　　Amerigo stood at the edge of the firelight and watched his friend stomp off into the dark.