(2023-12-26) Gifts for Exploring

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Author:	Alli
Summary:	Sil meets up with Bran for a Mysterious Greatfather Winter gift-giving. ~1100 words.
Rating:	T for Teen

Sil waves at the red-haired dwarf. "Bran, sir! Good to see you!"
Brannagen wanders into the beer garden and smiles when he spots Sil, his eyes almost disappearing.
[Brannagen]: Likewise! I trust ye've been keepin' well, kid?
01Brannagen settles himself on a bench.
[Silvestre]: Oh, yeah, I've been sticking around Dalaran lately, but keeping an eye on all that stuff you're uncovering. Half of me wishes I could be out in the Storm Peaks with you.
[Brannagen]: Ach!! Have they written about our latest in the newsletter yet??
Sil settles across from Bran, his face lighting up as Bran selects, by random chance, the correct table.
[Silvestre]: All that stuff about the Old Gods and the… matrix… and all that? Yeah, that's some amazing stuff.
[Silvestre]: And I wouldn't have thought my people have kind of the same origins as dwarves, in a way.
[Brannagen]: Titans battlin Old Gods a' the dawn o' the world… imprisonin' them… all the legends are true, almost to the letter. Amazin'.
[Silvestre]: Well, there's one legend, whether it's true or not, that's relevant now…
[Brannagen]: Oh aye? Which one?
Sil reaches below the table and grabs a smallish box, maybe about shoebox sized, with a happy red ribbon wrapped around it and tied on top. He sets it on the table and beams at Bran.
Brannagen laughs.
[Silvestre]: I'm your Mysterious Greatfather Winter!
[Brannagen]: Oh aye, I suppose 'tis the season fer another week or so, ennet? Fer all we tend ta do the presents on one day mostly. Well, what'd ye get me, Not So Mysterious Greatfather? *He begins to unwrap the box, eyes twinkling.*
[Brannagen]: Yer better a' wrappin' these things than I am…
Inside the box is a number of different implements, shiny and new. Little picks and chisels, brushes, and a pair of leather gloves that seems to have stitched ridges across the palms.
[Brannagen]: Ooooooooohhhhh! *Bran's eyes light up as he sets each tool on the table carefully, one at a time.*
Sil watches for Bran's expression. "I thought… with all the explorin' you'd be doing, and all up in the mountains, maybe you could use some backup tools."
[Brannagen]: This is perfect, kid! An look a' these gloves, real good grip on 'em.
Brannagen tries one on, flexing his hand.
Sil grins. "Yeah, exactly! That was the point. With all the ice an' snow around, you'll want something doesn't slip, right?"
[Brannagen]: This is a real good idea! Somethin' tells me ye've been doin' some explorin' of yer own since last we talked. Ye sure seem ta know wot's needed.
Sil laughs. "Well, a bit, yeah. I did a lot of exploring in the Fjord, when we first got here, and I did spend like a month or so out in Sholazar. You been to Sholazar yet?"
[Brannagen]: I beelined out there the second I could. But I was on me own, didna discover anythin' earth-shakin'. Sure is pretty, but too many wild beasts fer a man on his own, I thenk.
[Brannagen]: Well a man who's not as stealthy as you are, at any rate.
Brannagen laughs.
Sil laughs.
[Brannagen]: That's how Brann Bronzebeard does it, did ye know? Turns out he's a stealthy bugger like yerself.
[Silvestre]: Oh yeah? *Sil looks very pleased for a moment* So maybe I do fit in with the League nicely. Wish I'd got the chance to meet him - maybe I will someday.
[Brannagen]: I think ye have a lo' in common! But yer a slightly better communicator, heh heh.
Sil chuckles. "Less likely to go running off into exploration and not call my bro… my friends and stuff."
[Brannagen]: Aye!
Brannagen laughs.
[Silvestre]: But yeah, most of what I saw out there was architecture, same style as the Wyrmrest Temple.
[Silvestre]: There were some constructs? But they were… not friendly constsructs, so I mostly kept my distance.
[Brannagen]: An' now I know why tha' temple looks like it was built by Titans!! Because it probably was!
[Silvestre]: Ooh! So all that stuff in Sholazar is probably titans, too?
[Brannagen]: Oh tha' much I knew fer sure.
[Brannagen]: Et's got the smell of Un'Goro about it.
[Brannagen]: An Wyrmrest too. Was the titans gave the Aspects their jobs, so stands ta reason they'd build 'em a place ta work.
Silgrins. "Nice, maybe I ought to go out and have another look…" Sil hesitates. "…sometime soon, at least."
[Brannagen]: Aye, well, ef I'm no' busy with White Squad I'd be happy ta go with ye!
[Brannagen]: I thenk they're takin' another week off yet.
[Brannagen]: An' I can bring me new tools! *He grins*
[Brannagen]: So have ye gotten yer own Greatfather gift yet?
Sil grins. "If there's something to find, maybe you'd spot where I don't."
[Silvestre]: Oh, yeah, my Greatfather Winter was Azizia.
[Brannagen]: Oh, I dinna know the lass. What'd she get ye?
[Silvestre]: Ornamental daggers. *Sil smiles, remembering them.* I'll look real fancy next time we need to do something diplomatic.
[Brannagen]: Nice!
[Brannagen]: I go' that peculiar li'l druid on Blue Squad - Blossom, I call 'er in me head, but damned ef I remember the actual name. She's a healer, so I made her some o' me favorite potions an' also let her in on a secret about Greatfather Winter himself!
[Silvestre]: Oh yeah? What secret?
Sil chuckles. "If you can tell me."
[Brannagen]: I believe the Greatfather Winter legend stems from a Titan watcher called Hodir, who used ta set up here in the temple o' Winter.
[Silvestre]: Whoa, really? Same Hodir whose 'sons' our squad's been workin' with? *Sil's eyes are wide* Are they Greatfather Winter's helpers?
[Brannagen]: I dinna think he was much fer presents and gingerbread cookies, but then again, I canna prove he wasna. But the main part o' the legend, about him bringin' a blanket o' winter over the land… well, it fits, an' the story started with us dwarves, so.
Silnods slowly. "It would be cool if he did the presents and the gingerbread too, though."
Brannagen laughs.
[Silvestre]: You see any evidence of that… ancient tree with fossilized boxes or somethin'… you let us know?
[Brannagen]: Stories have a way o' changin' over the centuries, an' pickin' up other stories, like a snowball rollin' down a mountain an' pickin' up leaves an' twigs.
[Brannagen]: But aye, I'll keep an eye out.
Brannagen laughs.