Storm was deep in thought after the little metallic dragon finished his tale.
"Will you please put me down? This is uncomfortable!" Asked Chrome.
His little feet dangling uselessly in the air while the magic held him.
"Are you going to run again if we do?" Asked Storm suspiciously.
The little dragon struggled against the magic again, but eventually game up.
"No." He replied.
Storm looked expectantly towards Razor and nodded his head at her. Slowly the little dragon was lowered down to the ground.
"Orian!!" Called Storm.
His son stepped forward expectantly.
"Take our new guest to your mother.Tell her to prepare him a hot meal, and a warm place to sleep. He'll be staying under our roof until I can find his next of kin." Stated Storm flatly.
The little metallic dragon seemed completely stunned by Storm's generosity.
"Thank you Calamity, sir!! But I don't have any way to pay you back!!" Exclaimed Chrome.
" 'Calamity ' is a name reserved for my enemies and the people who don't know me! As we'll be staying in the same home for the foreseeable future. I'll be expecting you to call me 'Storm' just like all my friends and family.
As for 'payment'... Don't worry about it, little one! But I warn you I'm not the easiest person to live with. I'm strict, and I expect much.
Tomorrow you will attending the Regimen with my son, Orian. And based on your tale, you have a lot of catching up to do. I'll be expecting you to give me nothing but your best from now on.
"Yes, Sir!!" Said Chrome excitedly.
Orian nudged him from the side.
"Come on!! We'll get something to eat, then I'll give you a tour!!"
As the two little dragons turned to leave, Storm suddenly spoke up again.
"Chrome!! One last thing!!"
The silver dragon turned back expectantly.
" I hope you realize what you were planning to do today was wrong!? If you're going to stay in my household!? Then you'd better not try something like this again!!?" Warned Storm.
The little dragon nodded his head quickly.
"Go on then. " started Storm.
He watched the two children leave with a smile on his face. After a moment Grombrim approached him.
"I don't mean to tell you how to run your family, Storm. But are you sure this is wise?
Can you really afford to take in another mouth to feed with the current famine going around?" Asked Grombrim.
"I can't leave the little guy to fend for himself!
You heard him, he has no one to look after him!
This is just until we find his proper family." Stated Storm.
"And what if you never find his family? He doesn't seem to know any? And the world is a big place?"
"..."
"If that happens... Aurora and I will cross that bridge when we get there... For now, let us focus on solving our food issue.
How did we get here anyway!!? I thought we were better prepared than this!?" Asked Storm.
Grombrim shook his head.
"We weren't counting on the weather being this bad. Nor for animals to be this scarce.
It's forced the Griffins and Dragons to rely on the city food stores and it's draining fast.
It takes a lot to feed a dragon we just can't keep up with the demand. " Explained Grombrim.
"So, what you are saying is it's our vault!!?" Accused Storm.
Grombrim shook his head.
"I'm just stating the facts, Storm. There's a reason your people haven't tried to form large settlements until now. The upkeep to maintain such a large group would drain a region dry in months." Explained Grombrim
As much as Storm wanted to argue, Grombrim was right. He was afraid that gathering such a large following would have repercussions.
But this had hit harder and faster than he had anticipated.
In the opening weeks of the winter, a fierce blizzard struck the city. With strong freezing winds, and constant snowfall, this grounded the flying creatures of the city.
A few people from the city quarters died quickly from the cold and he was forced to evacuate everyone into the mountains and seal the doors.
This solved the cold problem, but left them with their current predicament. Druids, Kitsune, Elves, and Fay had crops and groves that provided food year round, but the blizzard blocked access to these resources.
Without them supplementing their reserves, things became dire. Storm had to implement strict rationing in order to stretch out their reserves. But despite this, the supplies would only last another month at most.
And people would already have begun to starve at that point.
"How do dwarves solve this problem? You have large cities as well don't you?" Asked Storm.
"We don't need to eat as much as you, but there's a reason our largest cities are always built over an entrance to the Underworld.
It gives us access to food resources year round.
Razor frowned.
"What kind of plants grows underground that could feed an entire city?" She asked.
"Several species of edible mushrooms mostly.
These cities often build vast fields of them underground. But that isn't the only means of gaining food.
There's a species of swine like creatures underground that we call 'Deep World Hogs'
They're roughly the size of goats and their meat is rich in nutrients.
They also reproduce at an alarming rate, faster even than rabbits. They're often considered something of a pest if their numbers grow too high.
If we can find a large herd underground, they can help us wait out this damn blizzard!!" Exclaimed Grombrim.
"Have our underground expeditions found traces of them nearby?" Asked Razor.
"Plenty, though we haven't managed to locate a herd just yet." Stated Grombrim.
Send as many teams into the underworld as you can! Supplement these teams with gnoll trackers. If your people can point out a trace of these 'bunny pigs' then they can track them. Ordered Storm.
Grombrim nodded his head.
I'll contact the Prospector's Guild. They've been itching to send teams into the Underworld for weeks.
Storm nodded.
"And draw up plans for how we can avoid this next winter!! I don't want this to become a yearly thing." Ordered Storm.