Challenge #04495-L111: Fated Family

The caravan they came upon was destroyed, the family was dead. In the wreckage, Bribrid, a silvery eternal dragon in the guise of a gnome, finds a baby still alive and crying. Wraithvine, Bribrid, and their fluffy cat now have a child to raise. -- Anon Guest

They found the caravan too late to save it from the bandits. All that remained to do was inter the bodies and organise what salvage they could. At least until Bibrid heard the weak cry.

There was a baby who had been sleeping in a drawer when the bandits attacked. Overlooked in the chaos, and hidden under other debris from the fight.

Magic could clean him and feed him, but a baby needed arms to hold them and a heart to care for them. A baby needed safety and love. A baby needed a family. Shelter. Support. It was the safety part that made Bibrid's heart sink.

No child could be safe for long in Wraithvine's company. Bibrid was old enough to know how to protect himself, and capable enough to take that action when trouble came for him. A baby was helpless. Vulnerable. In the kind of trouble he and Wraithvine found, a baby was most likely to become collateral damage.

That would not do.

With a helpless life in his arms, the Dragon of Healing could see the sad future the child was due in his current care. A brief future as well, given how many attempted to harm Wraithvine and how many attempted to capture Bibrid for their own ends. A babe in arms would be an easy victim to those forces.

Both legends knew this, and shared a silent agreement over the campfire.

This kid needed a better fate.

Swaddled in the colours of the wagon he was found in, protected by a charm made of silver Dragons scale and a long braid of Elf hair, the child spared by happenstance had to have a better sanctuary. Such a place of safety was far from the destroyed caravan. So they had to start as soon as possible.

They did not stop at the first farmhouse they could find. That would be the easy way. Wraithvine and Bibrid worked on an augury together to find the best household for their foundling baby.

Which was a hunchbacked house in the less affluent quarter of a big city, where a humble tailor found them puzzling at hir shop. And, further in the matter, puzzling at the sign within.

Unattended Children Will Be Legally Adopted.

"Never found a partner who could stand me for long," said the tailor, cuddling the foundling with clear adoration. "Never had customers who left their bairns run loose. Never had a little one come to me." Ze was instantly captured by a tiny hand wrapped around a single finger. "Sure you can bear to part with him?"

"Not entirely," said Wraithvine, "but we're sure we have to."

[Photo by Yves Monrique on Unsplash]

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