This will be a chapter to introduce the Dragon Roost Tavern/Orphanage and what a typical day in it looks like. Enjoy!

Silver's PoV...

I woke up to the sun beating down on my face. Letting out a large yawn, I slung my feet over the edge of my bed and began to stretch. At least, until a little one busted into my room.

"Mr. Frosttooth!" Oh boy, already starting with the trouble, are we? "Will's being mean again!"

I let out a sigh. "How so?"

"He's taken the cereal again!"

"Was he pouring some out?"

"... yes."

"Was he keeping it to himself?"

"... no..."

"Then how is he being mean?"

"..."

"Please go back downstairs."

"... okay..." Lili, the four-year-old orphan, hung her head and walked away.

I swear, she's always one to jump the gun on these things...

Standing up, I got dressed in my usual attire, swapped my Vision from my sleepwear to my everyday clothes, slipped on my gloves, and headed on down. The heat from the roaring fire hit my face like a gentle breeze as the din of tavern-goers kissed my ears. With a gentle smile, I walked behind the counter to speak with the head waitress.

"Well, business sure does seem to be booming today. Wonder what happened."

Flower, the head waitress, let out a chuckle. "Had a caravan come in last night. They were trying to cut through Dragonspine to save some time, but as we both know, that didn't exactly work out for them. There's been talk amongst them of resting here a bit more before turning around and going back the way they came."

I nodded before absent-mindedly taking cook orders. "That would be wise of them. Dragonspine can be unforgiving to those unacquainted with its turmoils."

She nodded as she grabbed the food I had made. "Indeed. Oh, and before I forget: Sam said he wanted to see you."

I raised an eyebrow as she left. Sam? What does he want from me? Better not be a face-to-face supply report again...

Finishing up with the orders I had taken, I walked to the door, threw on my coat, and stepped on out into the biting cold. Wind and snow slammed against my face, but thanks to the countless years I've spent living on this mountain, it was nothing but a minor inconvenience. Spotting the wooden building we used to house our supplies, I trudged through the snow and made my way inside, the cold cowering away once more to flame. Spotting the large, burly man in charge of our supply depot on the other side of the building, I crossed the distance between us and crossed my arms.

"This had better not be another face-to-face supply report, Sam. I've already told you to leave the reports on my desk."

He chuckled as he one-handed a box of supplies that'd take easily ten men to lift. "Don't worry, kiddo, it's not that." He's the type of guy that'd call anyone smaller or younger than him "kiddo." "It's about the kids."

He had my undivided attention in an instant. "What about the kids? Are we running low on clothes? Blankets? Maybe--"

He put a hand up to stop me. "Pump the breaks, kiddo. It isn't that serious. If it was, I would have woken you up, rather than let the sun do it." Upon hearing those words, my shoulders relaxed, but my worry did not vanish. "The kids have been complainin', sayin' there ain't enough toys around."

I nodded, lightly biting my lip. "I see... Maybe it's more a case of 'we don't have enough varieties of toys' rather than simply not having enough."

Sam raised an eyebrow as he took a box out of the hands of a struggling employee. "What makes you say that?"

"Just this morning, Lili burst into my room complaining how Will was, and I quote, 'being mean.'"

"He was pouring himself some cereal, wasn't he?"

I chuckled and helped some other workers load some supplies onto a cart. "Yup. Also, it's been a bit since our last real supply run, right?"

"It's been three weeks since we last took the time to browse. We've been buying what we know will get us through since then."

I nodded. "Well, there we go. Can't hurt to go for a true supply run, now can it?"

Sam smirked as he made for his office within the supply depot. "I'll go get the girls together."

The two of us shared a hearty laugh before I left the depot and stood out in the biting cold. Looking around, I reflected on all I've been through in life before gazing up at the stone dragon that wrapped around the central tower, a symbol of the "Dragon Knight's" protection over these lands. Letting out a chuckle that the wind swiftly grabbed and ferried away, I made my way back inside the tavern and walked to where I knew the children would be eating.

Standing in the doorway, I crossed my arms and smiled as the orphans I've taken in all sat together and traded their most recent dreams, stories, thoughts, and whatever else struck their fancy, all while they chowed down on the food before them. Many noticed my presence and gave me energetic waves, to which I responded with waves of my own before one of the boys who had finished eating a while ago and was just hanging out with his friends stood up and walked over to me.

Naturally, I gave him my undivided attention. "What's up, Luke?"

"Can you train me on how to use a sword? I wanna be just like you when I grow up!"

I chuckled at his enthusiasm. "We'll see if I have time. We did get a caravan in last night, after all." I rubbed his head as a frown adorned his lips. "Cheer up, even if I don't have time today, I'm sure I'll find some time in the coming weeks."

At this, he lit up. "Right!"

Grinning to myself, I watched as he ran back to his friends, eager to tell the news. Taking a few more minutes to watch the kids enjoy themselves, I quietly retreated from the children's dining area and made my way to my office. Sitting down at my desk, I let out a groan as my eyes bore witness to all the papers before me.

"I should have expected as much..."

Grabbing the first bunch, I got to work dealing with the monotony of tavern life. Half-way through, I heard my door open and a pair of light footsteps cautiously entered, trying their hardest not to disturb me.

It's either Lili, Petunia, or...

"Cherry?"

The young girl let out a squeak before answering. "Y-Yes, Mr. Frosttooth?"

I smiled as I looked up to see her holding a plate of sandwiches and some grapes. "Are those for me?"

"Y-Yes, s-sir." I smiled as she softly set the plate on my desk, being very careful not to disturb anything. "It's lunchtime and you haven't come out of your office for a while, so I..." She then bowed. "Please excuse this intrusion!"

A chuckle escaped my lips as I reached over my desk and ruffled up her cherry blossom hair. "Don't worry about it. I really appreciate this, thank you."

Her entire face burst into red as I patted her head. "Y-Your welcome." And with that, she left my office.

I took a break to enjoy the food the shy girl brought me before returning to my work, sighing with each paper I went through. Before long, the sun was fading and all the paperwork that had been drowning my desk was finished. Kicking back in my chair, I looked out the window behind me as I stretched my limbs.

"Dang that took a lot out of me... I really should go blow off some steam."

Standing up from my chair, I dipped into my room real quick to grab my sword before turning around and heading for the practice fields we diligently maintained. Setting foot on the beaten and packed dirt of the field, I felt a wave of warmth wash over me as the Pyro lanterns dotted around the place took hold.

These lanterns were a special invention of a friend of mine, and their purpose is to provide warmth to life around it in a certain radius, but without the risk or trouble of a live fire. Their creation is a bit complicated, involving a Pyro Vision holder, some rare materials, and very finicky forging, but the end result is well worth it.

Smiling, I took off my coat and shirt and hung on a pair of near-by hooks as the head of the guard, Lucy, walked into view, sweat and dirt littering her body. Giving me a nod, she began to dry her mid-riff showing tank top and athletic shorts with her Pyro Vision as I looked over my sword.

"Done with suicide, have ya?" It was a joke of ours to call paperwork suicide. However, if you try to joke about actual suicide around any of the staff, expect it to fail, hard.

"Yup. Say, you know where Luke is? He said he wanted to learn how to wield a sword."

"He should be with the other kids, eating dinner. Want me to grab him for ya?" She started to throw on her clothes and armor.

I nodded as I walked into the field. "That would be much appreciated."

Smirking, Lucy gave the trainer a hand signal. "Be sure to give our boss a good fight, ya hear?"

He laughed as he stood up, hoisting his claymore onto his shoulder. "You got it. So, Vision or no Vision?" He patted the Geo Vision hanging off his belt.

"Let's go without. I wanna blow off steam, after all."

The trainer smirked as he gripped his sword with both hands, taking his position in the center of the field. Drawing my blade I held it off to the side as I sunk low, ready to fight. Willow, noticing our sharpened swords, broke away from her conversation and stood off to the side, her Dendro Vision humming with power as she waited for one of us to inevitably get hurt.

A few seconds passed before my trainer rushed me, starting a barrage of relentless attacks. Getting into my groove, I blocked, deflected, and avoided every blow and parry he made while making my own attempts at his guard. The sound of metal hitting metal could be heard for several minutes before I swept his feet out from under him and put my blade to his neck, my foot on his chest preventing him from rising.

"I submit." We smiled as I helped him to his feet.

"Congratulations," we looked over at Willow, "you finally managed not to almost kill each other this time." We all shared a hearty laugh before laying eyes on a small swordsman-to-be.

Grinning, I tossed my sword to the trainer and caught a pair of wooden swords as I made my way over to Luke. "You ready?"

He turned his attention to me and looked me up and down before grinning. "Heck yeah! I'm ready for anything!"

Shooting an evil at the adults behind me, I tossed one of the swords to Luke, who caught it in confusion. "If that's so... You ready for this?!" I charged at him and watched as he reeled back, shock, confusion, and fear all over his face.

"OH NO!"

------------

After spending a few hours training Luke how to use a sword, we called it a day and headed back into the tavern. Making my way downstairs (after dropping my sword off in my room, that is), I grabbed a near-by towel and walked into one of our underground hot springs. There was hardly any light down here, so any kids that wanted to take a dip would have to have adult supervision (don't want them tripping and hurting themselves on the cold stone floor, now do we?) but there was just enough to navigate in. Each spring (that's blocked off by stone walls, mind you) had its own light source you could turn on if you wanted, but I preferred the relaxing shadows, so I didn't mess with the lamp.

Shutting the door to my hot spring, I changed out of my sweat-soaked clothes, placed my Vision within arm's reach, slipped into the water, and let the warmth melt all the strain from my limbs. Easily, I spent an hour or so in the bath as I just listened to the water flow around me and echo off the stone walls. Before long, I washed up, dried off, exited the springs with my pajamas on (I had brought them down with me when I dropped off my sword), and retreated to my room, ready to put a bow on the night. However, before I could drift off to sleep, I heard my door creak open.

Once I heard the footsteps, I instantly knew who it was. "Is something wrong, Lyra?"

The young girl with hair like the ocean let out a squeak, much like Cherry when she stopped to give me lunch, but she continued forward. "Mm-hm..."

I sat up and watched as she crossed my room, climbing up and into my bed before latching onto my arm. I instantly knew what was wrong. "You had another nightmare again, didn't you?" She nodded. "You're parents again?" She waited a while before giving me the tiniest of nods. Letting out a sigh, I began to stroke her silk hair as I laid back down. "Don't worry, you're safe now. Get some sleep, you've earned it."

I kept whispering soft words such as those for several minutes, at least until I thought she was asleep. Taking one more look at her in her bunny-themed pajamas, I let out a sigh before closing my eyes.

"I miss them."

?!

My eyes shot open to see that Lyra was fully awake. "I really miss Mommy and Daddy..." I hugged her close as she started to cry. "Why'd they have to go...? Why...?"

"They left to protect you." I gave her a loving kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure they miss you too, Lyra. I'm sure they miss you too..." The two of us laid like this, with Lyra quietly weeping into my chest while I softly comforted her, for several hours before the two of us drifted into the channels of sleep.

Hello! Hearth here! Hope you enjoyed this first long chapter that depicted a typical day for Silver in the Dragon's Roost! I plan on making the next chapter the start of Genshin Impact (AKA we get to meet Lumine and set the story into motion and what-not). Also, I hope to get a few more chapters out before Christmas, since I kind of want to do a Christmas-themed chapter that takes place outside of canon events. Also, poll for Silver's love interest is still going. Someone really couldn't give me a single choice (you know who you are) when it came to males, but they did thankfully give me a single female. And remember:  I will try my hand at mxm if that's what y'all want, I can't promise it'll be any good, though.

The current votes are as follows:

Noelle - 1

Barbara - 1

Everybody else - 0.

Be sure to pitch in before the chance vanishes!