Dragon Collector
an excerpt

The sound of small children giggling interrupted their conversation. Aergis, figuring out where the giggling was coming from, turned and looked around the banister. “So, that is what was making that sound. Why don't you two come out so we can meet you properly?”
Aisu was surprised when two little children emerged from around the staircase. There was a young girl, around the age of ten with curly strawberry blond hair, and an even younger boy, perhaps the age of six, with much darker hair. However, the two children had a matching set of dark eyes that gazed up at the two.
The little girl giggled, looking at Aergis intensely. She whispered something to the boy, pointing to the elf. Timidly, she stepped up to Aergis with a sweet looking smiling. “Are you an elf?”
Aergis knelt down on one knee to be at her level. “Yes, I am an elf. I do think my ears tend to give that away.” He tilted his face away and touched the tip of his pointed ear. “And who are you two little children?”
She giggled again and looked to her little brother. With a big grin, she turned back to Aergis. “My name is Atasha and this is my lil' brother, Jakoby. Are you the elf that Pappa talks about in his stories?”
“Hm, you are a very direct child, Atasha.” Aergis told her, standing up. His smooth face displayed signs of annoyance. Children were not one of the things that Aergis enjoyed to deal with, so he would tend to avoid them, if possible . “Maybe I am, maybe I am not. I do not know what stories your 'Pappa' tells.” He glanced over at Aisu who was looking at a nearby tapestry in thought. “Though if this 'Pappa' is our friend Nathren, I have little doubt that I am.”
“Um, 'Tasha, what's that man talking about?” The little boy, Jakoby, asked his fair haired sister.
“I don't know.” Atasha whispered back to her younger brother. “I think he said he doesn't know about Pappa's stories.”
“'Tasha, that man talks funny.”
Under the talk of the children, Aisu could hear footsteps from higher up on the staircase. He looked up to see a man with bright red hair, though it was growing out gray. He was very well but simply dressed, in a collared white shirt with a deep royal blue vest that had forest green shoulders and pitch black trousers. Aisu recognized him immediately.
“I see you are just as good with children as you always were, Aergis.” This man said with a smile. His gray and blue eyes flashed with good humor. “Enjoying the scenery, Aisu?”