“Impudent whelp,” snarled Wynf. “We take you in, allow a foreigner on our hallow ground and accept him as part of our family and this is how you repay us, with spite and disregard ? Being the elder’s pet does not put you above our customs and your smoke-soaked blood does not place you above our culture !”

“I’m saying this because I love your culture, our culture, and I don’t want to see it wiped out by laws that haven’t been relevant for centuries ! Our Fathers couldn’t predict what would happen, they had no way to know or any grounds on which to contemplate revision. But the world has changed; your sons and daughters have changed and you need to respect that !”

“I raised you,” roared Wynf, grabbing Sparrow by the scruff of his neck and hefting him over two feet off the ground. “I trained you, taught you everything that you know and this is how you repay me ?!” His own eruption subsiding, Wynf’s crescendo fell to a menacing rumble. “I thought that I had taught you to love, respect and cherish our culture, but I see that it was all in vain.” With a flick of his wrist, Sparrow was tossed through the air. “You could never be like us… You will never be like us !”

“Are you okay ?” asked Helmut, kneeling near Sparrow’s side.

Sparrow rose, heedless of the blood flowing down his lower lip. “Don’t,” he spat, climbing to his feet. “Don’t you…Dare walk away from me…”

Whether Wynf had heard or ignored Sparrow’s demand would remain a mystery, yet there was no mistaking the blows that were landed on Wynf’s spine. Wynf cried out in the most threatening way that Helmut had ever heard, falling to one knee.

“RRRAAAAARRRGGH !!” declared Wynf, catching Sparrow with a clothesline that sent him tumbling. The latter rose in time to catch a boot to the face, crumpling on the ground. Sparrow caught the next boot with both arms, twisting Wynf’s leg and collapsing his footing. Catching his breath, Sparrow watched Wynf slowly rise to his full eight-foot height and contemplated his counterattack.

Wynf took his opponent’s measure, making use of whatever remaining intimidation that his size afforded him.

“We should do something,” decided Helmut, entering the outer edge of their circle as he felt something tap him on the head. He turned to find Nina’s staff as the culprit.

“Don’t get involved,” she recommended, watching the fight with the detached passion of an anthropologist.