Leon and Anzu didn’t stay in Leon’s childhood home—or what was left of it—for long.  By the morning of the next day, they were already preparing to leave, though not before Leon sat with his back against his father’s Heartwood tree once more.  He figured it was probably just his imagination, but it almost felt like the tree, or the tree’s aura, was wrapping around him in a warm embrace.  He felt safe here, even without the walls he’d known so well growing up, or his father still there to kill all threats that came.

But as much as Leon wanted to stay around his father’s grave for longer, he had the Iron Needle and needed to return home.  He’d spent a long time talking to the Heartwood tree that had grown out of his father’s body, imagining that he was filling his father in on all that had happened when last he was here, but that hadn’t taken all night.  Once he was finished and fell silent, he’d called up his family back in Occulara.  Fortunately, all of them being high-level mages, he wasn’t waking anyone up despite the lateness of the hour.

Elise, Maia, and Valeria were all happy as he was that he’d managed to succeed in his expedition, and Leon learned that Nestor had finished his modifications to Leon’s lab and the containment unit for the Iron Needle, that they may study it in controllable conditions.  So, with that in mind, Leon and Anzu took flight again that morning and headed west.

They all but traced their way back the way they’d come, only stopping when Leon wondered aloud if Anzu still wanted to hunt for some bear or whatever he might find up here.  Anzu simply replied that in the weeks Leon had been underground, he’d hunted to his heart’s content, and showed the now five ice wraith cores that he’d managed to collect as proof.

Leon’s eyes about bulged out of their sockets in surprise, and he silently led them back to the mountain pass.

From there, it was on to the Brown Bears, with whom Leon and Anzu stayed for a short while.  Torfinn was, of course, the perfect host, and Leon took a few hours to reminisce with the old man.  Torfinn was still only fifth-tier, and while that did extend his life span by quite a few decades, his hair was graying and his face was already showing quite a few wrinkles.  Leon wasn’t sure how much longer Torfinn might have, so he decided to spend the night.  He didn’t know if he’d ever come this far north again, especially not with the Iron Needle now in his possession, so while he wanted to return home quite badly, he also didn’t want to leave and regret not having spent just a little longer in the Chief of the Brown Bear’s presence.

That day went by quickly, with Torfinn bringing Leon on a tour of Vale Town that he hadn’t had time for before heading to the Forest of Black and White.  Torfinn showed Leon all the expansions the city had undergone, and how many markets had sprung up to support all these people.  There was even now a fairly sizable district built just to support merchants who made the perilous journey from the Bull Kingdom for silkgrass.

Leon took the opportunity to purchase quite a few bolts of silkgrass for relatively cheap—he still happily overpaid because even at four times the price in Vale Town, silkgrass was still cheaper here than it was in Occulara—and even purchased what he might need for Tikos, Helen, and Elise to try their hand at what had never been achieved before: growing silkgrass outside of the Northern Vales.

The next morning came almost too soon, and Leon and Anzu had to set out again.  Torfinn threw them another feast not only the night before, but also the morning of their departure, and Leon left Vale Town with almost the entire Brown Bear Tribe there to see him off.

It was a somewhat bitter departure, though, knowing that he might never see any of these people again.  Already, nearly all of the tribesmen that Leon had casually known from his childhood were dead or had retired out into the countryside.  Torfinn and his thanes were about the only familiar faces left in Vale Town.

If Anzu sensed his solemn mood—and Leon thought he could, given he was utterly uninterested in hiding it—he didn’t mention it.  They simply allowed Torfinn to escort them to the outskirts of the city, and then took flight again to head south.

This time, however, they were going to go on a different flight path.  They’d stopped in Teira on the way north, and Leon didn’t want to stop at too many places on the way south again.  Instead, his intent was to head a little more eastward, and visit another people whom he hadn’t seen in a long while…

---

The Crater Tribe of stone giants were much as Leon had left them.  Their capital ‘city’ in the massive crater around the ruins of Nestor’s golem construction facility—which the giants called ‘The Cradle’—hardly looked like it had changed at all in a quarter of a century.  Leon, having seen much change during this expedition, found himself relaxing at the sight.

‘Some things never change…’ Leon thought as he and Anzu drifted down into the eponymous crater of the Crater Tribe and landed in the front courtyard surrounded by the hexagonal basalt pillars of Rakos’ palace.

Neither he nor Anzu had hidden themselves in any way on their flight, not even on their journey over the Border Mountains.  Along the way, they’d spotted quite a few mountain beasts, and even griffins, though Anzu hadn’t said a word about them, so Leon hadn’t brought it up.  He was still intending on showing Anzu around, though, so there was time enough for words later.

They didn’t have to wait long before Rakos itself and a number of other important stone giants that Leon remembered hurried outside, the speed and grace with which they moved their massive stone bodies proving quite the sight, and bringing back feelings of nostalgia and deep shame within Leon.  He’d not done good by Lapis, and had gotten quite a few other stone giants killed during the civil war between August and Octavius, and even still had the mausoleum he’d built in his Mind Palace to remind himself of that failure.

He was here now to hopefully leave the door open for a second try.

“A JOYOUS DAY, TO SEE THE RETURN OF THE DIVINE ONE!”     Rakos thundered as it greeted Leon.  “WE HAVE WAITED FOR THE DAY YOU MIGHT REQUIRE OUR PEOPLE AGAIN, AND HAVE SPENT THAT TIME PREPARING.”

Leon cringed slightly at its use of the ‘Divine One’ title but decided not to make too big of a deal out of it.  Instead, he simply responded, “I’ve been looking forward to reuniting with your people, as well, and hope that we can speak about these ‘preparations’ you’ve done at greater length.”

Leon smiled at Rakos, then glanced at Anzu after noticing what looked like some confusion in the griffin-in-human-form’s body language in the corner of his eye.  He then remembered that while he could understand the giants’ speech, the same wasn’t true for almost anyone else.  He gave Anzu a comforting wave to save any questions for later, while simultaneously silently castigating himself for forgetting to mention that on the flight over.

Rakos escorted the two of them inside its palace and to its throne room, and Leon immediately registered that there was, in fact, at least one change: Rakos’ throne room was much more packed than Leon had ever seen it.  Several hundred sixth-tier stone giants had packed themselves into the throne room and were now watching Leon’s entrance with great interest—or so Leon assumed, given their bodies all roughly followed him and made way for him and Rakos.  He still wasn’t quite sure how the stone giants perceived the world around them, especially since he couldn’t sense any magic senses emanating from any of them.

“Lots of your people in here,” Leon observed, pausing right before the dais upon which sat Rakos’ throne.

Rakos halted in front of its throne, seemingly refusing to sit down while Leon stood.  “MUCH HAS HAPPENED, DIVINE ONE.  AFTER CENTURIES OF DISCORD AND DISUNITY, THE TRIBES HAVE REUNITED.  THE BLOODLINE OF OUR CREATORS YET EXISTS, AND WE HAD TO MAKE OURSELVES READY TO SERVE.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing in this time?” Leon awkwardly asked.  “Waiting for me to have need of you?”

“YES.”

Leon carefully schooled his face, maintaining his default rather stoic expression, but inside he felt some elation, but mostly deep embarrassment and discomfort.

“That… wasn’t necessary,” he eventually stated.  “You are your own people, you could’ve chosen something else to do with your time.”

“YES, WE COULD’VE,” Rakos acknowledged.  “WE STAND READY TO SERVE.”

Leon, after a moment, decided to let a smile spread across his lips.  “In that case…  Has peace with the Bull Kingdom been kept?”

“YES.  ALL TRIBES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT INTO THE DIVINE ONE’S PEACE.”

“Good.  Then focus on reproduction, make as many new giants as you can feasibly support.  If you’re going to choose to support me and my family, I’m going to need as many of you as I can get my hands on.”

“BY YOUR WILL, DIVINE ONE.”

“Sidenote: remember when I requested you not call me that?”

“SUCH CEREMONIES, WHEN IN A CONCLAVE OF THE TRIBES, ARE NEEDED.”

Leon, not wanting to make too big a deal out of this, relented, and continued with his business.  “Fine, then.  Just keep my preferences in mind.  But I don’t have much immediate need for your people to come down from the mountains.  But I’m working on getting into contact with other remnants of my Clan’s vassals in the far southeast, and if I can win them over to my side, then I’ll return for you.  Together, I would have us all ascend to the higher planes of this universe, even to the Nexus itself.  And I would have your people join us when we leave.”

“WE LIVE TO SERVE, DIVINE ONE,” Rakos declared.  For the briefest of moments, Leon wondered what the other giants in the throne room felt about this, but his wonder was immediately answered when, without exception, they all raised their arms into the air and began to thrum.  It sounded like singing, and Leon remembered the Crater Tribe doing something similar when he confirmed to Rakos and Lapis that he was of the Thunderbird Clan by hitting Lapis with a silver-blue lightning bolt back when he’d first ascended to the fifth-tier.

When they all quieted down, Leon said, “I would stay in the crater for a day or two.  I’d like to rest and explore this place, if there are no objections…”

“THERE ARE NONE,” Rakos stated, and Leon waited a moment before responding just in case there were any other giants who wished to dispute that point.  As a result, for that moment, silence fell upon the throne room.

“Very well,” Leon said.  “Look forward to the day that I return.  I’ll see if I can leave anything here that you can use to get in contact with me, just in case you find yourself in need of anything.”

With that, other than a few more platitudes, Leon’s meeting with the stone giants ended, and he and Anzu were eventually left alone—though not before quite a few of the giants, who Leon learned were the ‘Chiefs’ or ‘King’s of the other Tribes that had united under the Crater Tribe, came to introduce themselves and offer similar words of praise that Rakos had already given.

But, finally, Leon and Anzu walked back outside, still watched with something that Leon identified as awe by a great many stone giants, but otherwise left alone.

“That was…” Anzu began as they calmly walked out to the edge of the maze of trap-rocks that covered nearly the entire floor of the crater.  “That was quite something.”

“You don’t remember the giants?” Leon asked.

“I remember them quite well, actually.  It’s just… even I could tell they were being pretty subservient, but I don’t remember them rolling over so quickly the last time we came here.”

“I was returning to them their dead and my apologies for my part in getting their people killed,” Leon quietly stated.  “I wasn’t asking them for anything then.  Now, I was asking them to prepare to join my Kingdom… whenever I finally get around to building one.”

“And they didn’t hesitate to agree!” Anzu excitedly replied.  “I guess, I just thought that they were just a little more stubborn.”

“No, they’ve always been pretty deferential.  Too much so, I think…”  Leon trailed off at the end, speaking more to himself than to Anzu, but Anzu didn’t hesitate to jump on his statement.

“Too much?  How so?  I would’ve thought many strong and loyal retainers would be a good thing.  I’ve heard that loyalty is always in short supply, a Lord can never have enough.  So why is their showing of loyalty bad?”

“I didn’t say it was bad, just that they had too much.  It’s not bad, it just makes me feel awkward.”  Leon frowned and thought of Nestor.  “Some have made the claim that because stone giants are so deferential that that means they have no free will.  I… believe otherwise.  Or I want to.  They don’t make it easy.  If they had some kind of request or condition to join me, then I think I’d feel better about this.  This die-hard loyalty isn’t something I really know what to do with.”

“Accept it,” Anzu simply stated.

Leon sighed.  “I suppose that’s all I can do.  This is what they’ve stated they want.  Or so Rakos has stated, anyway, and I haven’t seen any evidence that it’s lying.  No reason to turn them down other than my own discomfort.”

“This is a good thing.”

“Yes, yes it is.  They’ve made their choice, and they’ve chosen me.  I’ll accept it.”

Leon didn’t continue, and Anzu let the silence between them extend for a while.  Leon turned his attention from the crater walls, where the stone giants had built their many cave-palaces, and from where even now many thousands of them stood watching them, and to the interior of the crater, in the maze of black, twisted, hexagonal pillars erupting from the ground.

“You want to go and see where I found you?” Leon asked, finally breaking that silence.

“Yes,” Anzu simply, but seriously replied.

Without another word, Leon led Anzu into the rocky maze.  He could remember where he’d found Anzu as clear as crystal, and it wasn’t too hard to find it again with his magic senses bathing the entire crater with his power.

He’d told Anzu of how he’d found him, of course, but that had been during a time when Anzu hadn’t been able to talk back.  Since Anzu had managed to assume human form and actually exchange words with Leon, neither of them had ever broached the topic of when Leon had found Anzu.

“… It was just over here,” Leon said as he led Anzu through the passages formed by walls of uneven, rocky pillars, eventually coming out into the wider space where he’d first seen the albino griffin.  “You were laying down right there, so young that your eyes hadn’t even opened.”

Leon gestured to the spot in question, and Anzu stared at it with an inscrutable look on his face.

“I wasn’t sure how long it might’ve taken you to open your eyes naturally, but I got them open with a healing spell,” Leon narrated.  “When your eyes opened, you looked right at me, and then promptly ran away.”

Leon smiled at Anzu, who looked to him with a somewhat embarrassed look.

“You did come back,” Leon continued, “though it wasn’t until the next day.  I think you were probably hungry and looking for food.  Regardless, after you came back to me, you stayed at my side, with few exceptions, ever since.”

“Those few exceptions being when you left,” Anzu said, his voice low and tone emotionless.  That one statement twisted itself into Leon’s heart like a knife, and he was about to apologize when Anzu suddenly lunged forward and threw his arms around Leon’s waist.  “Thank you,” Anzu whispered.  “Thank you.”

Leon blinked rapidly, removing any sign of watery eyes, and returned Anzu’s hug.  Again, neither of them spoke, their embrace saying all that they needed.

When Anzu pulled back, his eyes were dry, though there was a wet patch where he’d pressed his face into Leon’s shirt.  Leon chose to ignore it.

“If it’s all right,” Anzu hesitantly said, “could I fly around a bit?  I know it’s been a while, but… there’s still a chance that I have blood relatives around here…”

Leon frowned lightly but nodded.  “No need to ask, brother.  Just… I’d like to leave tomorrow morning.  Can you be back by then?”

Anzu nodded.  “Won’t take that long.  Just want to look.  See what I might’ve been.”

Leon smiled lightly and clapped Anzu on the shoulder.  With that, Anzu shifted to his white griffin form and, after locking his blood-red eyes on Leon one more time, took to the skies and began flying off into the distance.

More than a little worried, though trusting in Anzu’s power and judgment, Leon tracked his little brother through the sky.  Anzu never got too close to any other griffin, though Leon wasn’t sure if it would’ve mattered if he did, for he couldn’t sense any griffin in the Border Mountains at the human equivalent of seventh-tier, let alone any of Anzu’s power.  Any other griffins that Anzu might’ve wanted to talk to would’ve been fairly smart by animal standards, but they wouldn’t have been sapient.

Still, Leon was worried.  He couldn’t help it, he didn’t know what he would do if Anzu never came back.  Though, he supposed he understood Anzu’s position a little better, now.

So, he waited, posting up on one of the huge hexagonal pillars outside of Rakos’ palace, and resolved to stay there until Anzu returned.

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