The tension in the ark could be almost physically felt as they sped past the golden buildings of the Ilian Empire, and for many reasons.

The most weighty upon the nerves were the two Imperial arks that shadowed them as soon as they entered Ilian airspace.  Leon’s ark may have been equipped with some stealth capabilities, but due to an agreement he made with the Lord Protector, he kept them off after leaving the Pegasi States.  He’d been told that Ilion was nervous enough with their arrival that leaving them guessing as to their location would only make them more likely to shoot them down.

Not that he thought they would; a Princess of the Sacred Golden Empire was aboard, so he imagined the Ilian Emperor himself would be required to give them the go-ahead to fire upon their ark and risk a wrathful Grand Druid turning the River of Serenity into the River of Blood.

But that particular shield would be lost once they disembarked.  The Ten Tribes were almost literally demonized in the Ilian Empire, and all aboard the ark were well aware of that.  An ambush once they landed wasn’t out of the question for many of them.

And none of that touched on the possibility of being discovered by the Sentinels or the Sunlit Empire.  With their stealth enchantments disengaged, they were certainly risking much.

Leon wasn’t concerned about any of that, though.  He trusted the Lord Protector enough to see to their survival, and the simple fact that the old man had made a public statement supporting peace with the ‘Sky Devils’ was enough to convince Leon of his sincerity.  No, what made him tense was the knowledge that he was returning to Occulara a King.  Elise would be waiting for him, ready to take her place as one of his Queens.  The Director, too, would be there, waiting for word about the materials they needed to repair the arks in his care.  The Lord Protector and Grand Druid would be there, expecting him to offer them not only peace but also additional support to achieve Apotheosis and a spot in Leon’s ark once he left Aeterna.

So, Leon was tense, but mostly from excitement.  The future was looking bright, but only if he could get his accumulated resources properly aligned.  Heaven’s Eye, two Empires, and the Ten Tribes… he didn’t think he’d need any more resources than them to not only ensure his safety but also to achieve Apotheosis within the next century and leave for the Nexus.

“Your Majesty,” one of the ark’s crew said, bringing him out of his short reverie as he stared out of the ‘window’ in the ark’s common room.  He glanced upon, acknowledging the crew member’s presence with an anticipatory smile.  “We’re going to begin landing procedures in about five minutes.”

Leon nodded, the crew member bowed as he left, and Leon glanced around the room.  The ark was packed, relatively speaking, and most of the ark’s passengers were in the common room, quietly discussing the upcoming visit.  However, the crew member’s announcement—the last in a series of updates that had started when they were a couple hours out—rendered the entire room silent.

Leon took a deep breath to steady himself, then stood up.  “That’s it,” he gravely intoned.  “Get ready.”

While landing procedures would only start in five minutes, it would take a few more until they were actually on the ground.  Still, his peace delegation began to scramble to get ready.  Closest to the door stood Alix and Alcander leading the handful of Tempest Knights that Leon had brought.  After them were Sar, Exallos, and the Tribesmen they brought.  Following them were Leon’s retainers, letting the security and ‘official’ people go first.

Leon, however, strode to the front, with Valeria, Maia, Cassandra, and Anzu by his side.  Alcander looked like he was about to protest, but Leon silenced him with a glare and a shake of his head.  He didn’t want the knights to go first no matter the risk, imagined or otherwise; his Kingdom was technically still at war with the Ilian Empire, so he would lead his people from the front.

Those last few minutes passed interminably slowly for Leon’s tastes.  The ark passed through the massive buildings of Occulara and landed at a large, though private, Heaven’s Eye arkpad typically used for Imperial visitors who didn’t want to advertise their presence.  The arkpad was not only on the roof of a rather nondescript building not too far from the Hexagon, but it was also capable of being lowered into the building, allowing any visiting ark’s passengers to disembark in the privacy they desired.

Leon’s ark landed, and the pad began its descent.  Over the course of one of the longest minutes of Leon’s life, it descended about three stories before coming to a halt.  The pad’s door above them sealed before they stopped, encasing them in privacy wards.  Leon took one last look out of the projected window to get a feel for what he was about to walk out into and then nodded to the crew member who’d hurried to the door, ready to let him and his delegation out into Occulara.  Leon noted that the young man, appearing second-tier and barely older than his late teens, was sweating quite profusely.

The young crew member audibly gulped in anxiety, and Leon placed a comforting hand upon the man’s shoulder.

“It’ll be fine,” he said soothingly.

The young man took a deep breath of his own and then hit the runic circle to open the door.

The door flipped downward while stairs materialized out of light upon its inner side.  Leon paid this no attention, however, as he was immediately greeted by a fairly large crowd, all politely clapping as the door opened.

In the front were, unsurprisingly, Anastasios and the Grand Druid, each with wide, welcoming smiles on their faces as they enthusiastically clapped.  Behind them were several ninth-tier mages, most of whom had the look of battle-hardened veterans about them though two looked more like bureaucrats than warriors.  Though none were armed or armored, Leon knew that could change with only a moment’s notice.

Behind them was a slew of Imperial officials ranging from the fourth to the eighth-tier, though skewed a little more heavily toward the stronger side of that range.

His attention, meanwhile, was drawn to his right, where the Heaven’s Eye delegation waited.  It was much smaller in size than the two Imperial delegations, but it was far more important to Leon if for no other reason than some of his family stood in front; Elise a gorgeous red dress and an even more gorgeous smile to welcome them home.  Around her shoulders, her arms not in the sleeves, was the snow lion coat that Leon had commissioned for her as part of his wedding present, and upon seeing it, Valeria, Maia, and Cassandra all called upon their power and donned theirs, too.

Standing with Elise were not only the Director and Penelope, but Emilie, Narses the White, Talal, and several other high-ranking members of Heaven’s Eye.

Leon didn’t have to work hard to put a smile on his face, and, hoping to emphasize his connection to the Imperial family of Evergold, he held out his arm for Cassandra to take.  She did, and together, they descended the stairs.

Upon reaching the bottom, Anastasios and the Grand Druid both stepped forward.

“Welcome back, Leon!” Anastasios loudly said as he opened his arms welcomingly.

“You strike the image of a mighty oak,” the Grand Druid added.  “It pleases me to see you so hale and hearty!”

“It’s great to be back,” Leon said, pausing at the bottom of the stairs and glancing at Elise.  He grinned at her and pointedly held out his other arm.  Without any further prompting, his first wife bounded forward as fast as dignity would allow, taking his other arm and giving him a deep kiss.  Many of those watching cheered, possibly spurred on by Anastasios’ booming laugh at the public display of affection.  The cheers were quietest in the Evergolden contingent, though Leon hardly blamed them; if Cassandra hadn’t been laughing along with Anastasios, he was certain he’d have had a few hoping to curry favor with the Grand Druid try to give him a vehement public castigation.

With his wives on his arms and the rest of his family descending the stairs after him, the Tempest Knights followed suit, and Leon noticed many in the crowd stiffen up as his knights, unarmed but wearing fancy ceremonial armor, appeared.  They marched down the stairs, led by Alix and Alcander, and fanned out to the left and right.  Numbering only ten, it only took a moment before the rest of Leon’s peace delegation appeared.

Exallos was the first to reveal himself.  He cut an imposing figure; strong, powerful, and dressed to impress, Leon sensed the man quickly being bathed in magic senses.  That attention was shared when Sar emerged, his aura robust and a cloak about his shoulders emblazoned with a stylized image of the Ancestral Hart.

They stiffly descended the stairs, now the focus of nearly all the attention in the room.  Upon reaching the bottom, Leon took stock of the other two most important people in the room.  Anastasios was still smiling widely, but he’d spread his feet just a little to lower his center of gravity, and his pink eyes were narrowed slightly, though what emotion was running through his mind, Leon couldn’t guess.  The Grand Druid, meanwhile, appeared even less happy, with her welcoming smile gone in favor of stone-cold seriousness.

“This is Sar, Lawspeaker for the Ancestral Harts and a member of the Elder Council,” Leon said, indicating the man in question, who merely glanced around the room, taking it in and giving away none of his thoughts.  “And this,” Leon smoothly continued, “is Exallos Aetos, the Lawspeaker for the Screaming Eagles and also a member of the Elder Council.”

“Well met,” Anastasios said.  “Well met, indeed.”

“Welcome to the mainland,” the Grand Druid added.  “I’m sure it’s been a long time since you were last here by invitation…”

“Less time than you may think,” Exallos coolly replied.  The Grand Druid gave him a thin-lipped smile in response and her aura rose a hair, setting off alarm bells in Leon’s head.

“This is the Lord Protector of the Ilian Empire,” Leon said to his elders.  “And this is the Grand Druid of the Sacred Golden Empire.”

Sar grunted in response; perhaps a deliberate snub and one that didn’t land well amongst the Imperial entourages.  Exallos at least nodded and said, “Well met.”

A cold silence descended upon them all as each sized the other up and, Leon suspected, waited for the other to make the first move.  Those behind the tenth-tier mages were so tense as to appear almost like a coiled spring, a single misplaced word away from springing into violence.  The Tempest Knights’ auras pulsed with anticipation, their magic just below the skin of their fingertips.

But it was the Director who moved next, and violence was far from his mind.  He walked up from behind Leon and said with out-of-place enthusiasm, “Welcome to Occulara, my friends from beyond the sea!  I look forward to formalizing a peace between us, that we may all reap peace’s great benefits!”

His statement caused much of the tension to deflate, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  There was not going to be a battle this day; they’d all live to see if their expected battle would kick off tomorrow.

“Come,” Leon loudly stated, “let’s finish up our introductions and move this somewhere more comfortable!  We’ve had a long flight and are ready for some proper rest!”

The Imperials and Tribals each nodded, and though still wary of each other, more introductions were held, each less tense than the last.  By the end, no one was embracing or singing songs together, but Leon was more hopeful than he’d yet been that this would be an incredibly productive trip.

“Welcome back, my love,” Elise whispered into his ear as the introductions wound down, the heat in her voice nearly burning the skin of his ear.  He looked to her and found her emerald eyes practically alight with restrained passion.

He smiled at her, his golden eyes making promises of what they’d do upon returning home that he was eager to fulfill.  So, without much further ado, he hurried his people along.  This trip was going to take weeks if not longer; there was no need to rush…

---

Leon exhaled in relief as he collapsed on his own bed, having been gone from it for months.  It had been the better part of a year since he’d left for Kataigida, and while he had returned partway through, it had only been for a couple days.  Now, he had more time to relax in his own home in his own bed with his family all together, and he reveled in it.

Elise threw herself down next to him, her clothes across the room, the sweat on her skin proof of the vigor with which they’d just exerted themselves.  They lay there for several long seconds, breathing hard and simply enjoying each other’s presence before a voice said, “That eager were you?  It’s taken me longer to change my clothes than for the two of you to finish!”

Cassandra walked in through their door, still opened a crack from when Leon had carried Elise in and not cared enough to make sure was properly closed behind him—they were in their private wing of the villa so that last door was hardly one Leon cared much about.

Behind Cassandra entered an awkwardly-smiling Valeria and a relatively impassive Maia, though from the darkening of the river nymph’s bronze cheeks at the sight of his and Elise’s bodies, Leon knew he was going to be having more than one more bedmate at least once they were finished speaking.

“It’s not how long something lasts that counts,” Elise said with a glowing smile.  “It’s how good it is…”  She ran a hand along Leon’s chiseled abs, her hand drifting lower…

To head off the inevitable second round and get their business done, Leon stopped her hand, though he was in absolutely no hurry to rise and get dressed.  He and his ladies had all seen each other naked too often to care much about it now.

“How did your chat go?” Leon asked Cassandra.  “If you’re here now, then it couldn’t have lasted long either…”

“My grandmother was more concerned about how I’ve been personally than my impressions of our guests,” Cassandra explained.

Leon cocked an eyebrow in surprise.  He knew that Cassandra was undoubtedly the Grand Druid’s favorite grandchild, but for her affection to be so great as to ignore sharing a roof with ‘Sky Devils’ was an interesting thing to note.

‘Though, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by that,’ he thought with some amusement.

He had his Tribal delegation staying in his villa, and while he’d half-expected the Lord Protector and Grand Druid to find more official accommodations, they’d both opted to stay within Leon’s villa as well, along with most of their entourages.  The peace talks themselves would be held in one of Heaven’s Eye’s more opulent negotiation halls, but most of those participating in the talks would be staying in the same place.

Leon’s villa was large, but this many people staying in it strained his guest rooms a bit.  To ensure that no one was left out or that anyone from any particular delegation would have to room with anyone from another, he’d also had to segregate everyone to their own wings and have a few of the lower-ranked members of the Imperial delegations share a room.

“She said nothing of our other guests?” Leon asked.

“Only to say that she wanted to talk later,” Cassandra replied as she sat down on the edge of Leon’s bed, leaned back and propped herself up with her hands, and stared at the ceiling in thought.  “I know my grandmother well, though, and I can tell that she’s hopeful.  This is not only a good chance for peace, but also a good chance for her to achieve Apotheosis.  She’s not going to screw this up.”

“Good,” Leon said.  “I have to admit that I was a little worried about both the Ilian Emperor and your mother sitting these talks out, but if you’re confident these are going to work…”

“These are only preliminary talks,” Cassandra said.  “Nothing’s going to be decided here.”

Leon nodded in understanding; he knew that he wouldn’t be walking away with a peace deal quite yet.  A war that lasted in various forms for eighty-thousand years did not end in just a couple weeks.  There was a lot of baggage to work through, and the respective negotiators would have to get to know each other first.  So, that’s what these negotiations would be focusing on; getting to know one another and working to become friendly on a personal level before doing so on a political level.

“They’re still in the loop, the Emperors,” Elise whispered into his ear.  “They may not be here, but they’re still controlling their representatives.  I expect quite a few breaks for the negotiators to call home before proceeding.”

“Then we know the Grand Druid and Lord Protector won’t be directly participating?” Leon asked.

“They won’t be,” Cassandra confirmed.  “They’re here to lend weight to their representatives’ words, not to directly negotiate.  They may do so further down the line, but not now, not until sufficient groundwork has been laid.”

“Great,” Leon sarcastically said as he envisioned his vain hopes of not being bothered too much in his first few days back home dashing upon the rocks.

“Wasteful,” Maia said with a disapproving shake of her head.  “The strongest rule; the strongest should then be the ones to dictate terms.”

“They’ll be approving any decisions no matter how involved they get,” Elise pointed out.  “It’s better to leave the smaller details to those specially trained for such things.”

Maia scoffed.  “We should all think ourselves lucky that we do not negotiate with my mother.  A river nymph Pleione wouldn’t bother with long negotiations; you either accede to her demands, or you don’t.  There is no meeting in the middle.”

“Aren’t you now considered a Pleione?” Valeria wondered.  “Being ninth-tier and all…”

“I’d have to have territory, a school of lesser nymphs, and daughters for that,” Maia replied with a pointed look sent Leon’s way, which he pointedly ignored.

Children would come, he was always insistent on that.  Just… later.  They’d come later.

“Less talk,” Elise said as she threw a leg over Leon and mounted him, “more sex.  We have a lot to do in the next few weeks; time alone shouldn’t be wasted.”

Without any further ado, she sealed Leon’s lips with a kiss, one that he quickly returned as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

With his magic senses, Leon could see Valeria’s face turn crimson before she made for the door, though a smile graced her face anyway.  He knew he’d have to see to her before too long, too, from the heated look she sent over her shoulder as she left the room.

Maia, on the other hand, calmly pulled all her clothes back into her soul realm and stalked over to the bed, which Leon had fully expected.  He held out an arm for her and pulled her into his and Elise’s embrace once she leaned into it.

What he wasn’t quite sure about was what Cassandra was going to do.  However, when he and Elise finally separated their lips, he glanced at his other wife and found her staring back at them, a mischievous look on her face.

“Room for one more?” she asked.

Leon gave her a deep-bellied laugh and pulled her closer.  He’s ended the introductions between the Imperials and his delegation with calls for rest, but it seemed he wasn’t going to get any for the rest of the night.

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