It wasn’t hard for Leon to find who he was looking for; all he had to do was follow the sound of roaring. Even in his palace, with all its defensive wards and privacy enchantments, two large wyverns made a lot of noise.
A large part of his palace had been set aside as a stable for war beasts. For the most part, horses and pegasi were the only residents, though there were quite a few other exotic beasts there, too. Of those exotic war beasts, though, none compared to Anna’s beasts.
Her oldest was Ladon, the Attican Snapper that had hatched from the egg that Leon had taken almost twenty years prior during his first journey to Occulara from the Bull Kingdom. It was also perhaps her weakest war beast, struggling to get past the sixth-tier. This was something that Leon knew she found particularly frustrating since while beasts could gain sapience at the sixth-tier, it was extremely rare—the majority of those beasts that achieved it were seventh or eighth-tier.
Her two wyverns, Nidar and Astar, were more promising. They had each reached the fifth-tier, and at a much younger age than Ladon had, each being about seven years old. Their magic had manifested, their coloring had come in, and while neither had reached human levels of intelligence, Leon could tell that they understood more going on around them than most beasts did.
Anna’s final beast was the manticore that Leon had helped her bid for a couple years ago. While he was still young and not that much smaller than a fully grown lion, Leon could tell that the manticore was going to be powerful when it reached maturity. He was second-tier already and brushing against the limits of the third, and while he was displaying no unusual signs of intelligence, Leon couldn’t help but remember the manticores in the Prota Forest where he’d recruited Tikos and found the thunder wood; those beasts were strong and possessed of great intelligence, enough so that they’d been able to resist Tikos’ ‘parent’ for dominance of the forest.
When Leon arrived at the stables, he found many people running around seeing to their duties. He’d received quite a few war beasts during his brief reign—some were gifts, though most had been given to Leon as taxes levied upon the Booming Brown Bears—and he employed more than a hundred beastmasters to handle them all. In the future, he figured, they’d make for good mounts for his Tempest Knights.
Naturally, this was where Anna and Eirene could be found on most days, taking care of Ladon, Nidar, Astar, and the manticore whose name Leon couldn’t remember. Oftentimes, Anzu and Red could be found here, too, though in Anzu’s case it was more because he liked ‘socializing’ with the small number of other griffins in the stable, and Red’s case, it was more drooling over the possibility of devouring the entire stable.
All of them were present when Leon and his attendants entered the stable. Most of the beasts were in their cells, with Anzu in his griffin form pacing in front of the handful of other griffins. Anna and Eirene were with their war beasts out in the nearby yard. Red was lying on the roof watching these exercises, her yellow eyes rarely leaving Nidar and Astar.
Leon strode over to Anna and Eirene, largely giving those beastmasters who bowed to him a friendly smile as he passed, but no more. When he reached the two women, he found them focusing mostly on the wyverns. Ladon was soaking up the sun on its back, apparently asleep, while the manticore was busy chewing on a bone, not unlike a dog.
Nidar, on the other hand, was roaring and whining as continually demanded him to fly a lap around the yard, while Astar was much quieter and obedient, following Eirene around like a puppy following someone with a treat in their hand. Leon found it a little funny that the golden wyvern was the more obstinate, while the blue one was more obedient. Both, however, frequently cast looks of apprehension at the much, much larger form of Red looming over them, almost casting the entire yard into shadow.
“King Leon!” Anna called out as she ceased ordering Nidar to move, to the young wyvern’s relief. “What brings you here?”
Leon smiled at her and waited until he was much closer and out of earshot of the other beastmasters in the stable before verbally responding. “Need I a reason to visit my favorite beastmasters?” He spared a glance Eirene’s way to include her, noting that the woman wore a new and eye-catching gold bracelet set with topazes and sapphires and embossed with dozens of images of wyverns. His eyes turned back to Anna, his smile growing.
“Fine then,” Anna said with faux frustration, “keep your secrets. No King needs to explain himself to little old me.”
She flashed him a quick, cheeky grin.
“How’re things here?” Leon asked.
Anna sighed. “About as well as I think anyone might’ve expected. To be honest, I’ve kind of given up on Ladon ever ascending to the seventh-tier, and Maurice is still too young to train too hard, but Nidar and Astar are doing quite well!”
Nidar whined again, a high-pitched sound that was almost impossible to ignore. Anna glared at the wyvern in response.
“That baby face isn’t going to fly anymore, Nidar!” she shouted at the wyvern. Nidar now had a wingspan of several dozen feet, and even when lying on the ground, his long neck held his Anzu-sized head more than fifteen feet off the ground; he towered over Anna, yet as Anna's tone sharpened, the wyvern shrank back a little, looking slightly chastened. “If you want a treat, then you have to train! Look at your brother! He’s so obedient that he’d be fat if we weren’t constantly making him run and fly!”
Leon spared the blue wyvern a glance, as did Nidar. Seeing a wyvern run on all fours like a bat was kind of comical, though Leon knew from both Anna and Red that this was a valuable exercise, especially since wyverns liked making their homes in caves. Flying everywhere simply wasn’t going to be feasible, so learning to move on all fours was a necessary part of a wyvern’s life.
With that thought, Leon turned his golden eyes upward, and Red turned hers downward, as if sensing his gaze.
“How are they doing in your estimation?” Leon called up.
Red huffed, smoke and embers flying out of her massive nostrils. Fortunately, Leon’s home was primarily made of stone, and even if it wasn’t more warded than most fortresses, it wasn’t all that flammable.
[Were they my whelps, I would be much harsher,] she growled into their minds, her words coming with a distinct undercurrent of scorn and derision, though buried beneath both Leon could sense a kernel of fondness. [They ought to be happy they’re not with their kin, else they would’ve been eaten long ago. Laziness is not tolerated amongst my kind.]
“Hear that, Nidar!” Anna shouted, the gold wyvern bowing its head even more after Red spoke. “Wyverns shouldn’t be lazy! You have to get up and train, or else your brother is going to leave you behind! You don’t want that, do you?”
Nidar whined again, but as Eirene ran past, Astar following closely behind, Nidar pushed himself up and began shambling in Astar’s wake, though not, to Leon’s eyes, particularly quickly.
“That boy,” Anna sighed. “Always looking for the easy way out of work.” She clicked her tongue before turning back to Leon. “They’re strong enough to fight, I’d say, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Nidar’s still lazy and Astar’s too much of a good boy.”
“Astar won’t kill?” Leon asked with surprise.
“I wouldn’t say that…” Anna corrected. “Only… that even when he participates in combat training, I rarely sense much killing intent from him. I think that he doesn’t want to, or at least doesn’t know what this training is meant for.”
[He’s dumb,] Red added. [The kind of dumb that would’ve been weeded out at birth, were he to grow up in the mountains. A wyvern who doesn’t kill is a wyvern that is killed.]
“You could help too, you know!” Anna shouted back. “I’m always open to learning how to manage my boys better, and you’re the only other wyvern here!”
Red huffed again. [Your boys need tougher love. Take them to the mountains and pit them against the monsters that make men squeal. They will either die or come out with the proper attitude.]
“I don’t want to traumatize my boys!” Anna shouted back.
[You then prepare them for failure,] Red responded.
Anna groaned and turned back to Leon. “Sorry. We’ve been having this discussion for years, now.”
“There’s some wisdom to be found in Red’s words,” Leon quietly stated. “Nidar and Astar are wyverns. I won’t demand that they fight in any wars, but I think that they ought to be prepared for the possibility of it.”
“They’re gentle souls,” Anna fondly said as the wyverns in question bounded after Eirene, the woman occasionally tossing large chunks of meat behind her.
“I won’t tell you how to raise your war beasts,” Leon said. “If anything, I’m here for the opposite.”
“Hmm. Huh?” Anna hummed before properly processing Leon’s words. Her eyes turned to him in confusion, seeking further explanation.
“Look at all this,” Leon said as he nodded to the rest of the stables. “More than two hundred horses, nearly as many pegasi, a dozen griffins, and more besides. We’ve hired a number of beastmasters to take care of them all, but the current hierarchy is a bit muddled and haphazard given how quickly we had to implement it when the war beasts arrived. In other words, I don’t have a stablemaster, nor do I have any higher positions open for those who can manage other Royal stables. And given how quickly I’m building up herds of war beasts, I’m going to need those higher positions.
“So, Anna, what I’m saying is that I need a Royal Beastmaster. Someone who can keep an eye on all my war beasts. And when I realized that, well… there was only one name that popped into my head.”
He gave her a meaningful look as what he was saying sank in. Her smile faded for a moment as she turned over his offer, and she gave him a serious look.
“Just to be clear,” she said a little hesitantly, “you’re asking for me to fill this position, this isn’t like some kind of prank, is it?”
“Ancestors, no!” Leon exclaimed. “I’m offering this position to you! And with it will come greater privileges and a much greater salary! Please don’t turn this down, I don’t have the patience to evaluate other candidates!”
Anna thought it over a moment longer before bursting out laughing. “Ha! Leon, I’m almost tempted to turn it down just to see the look on your face!” Leon scowled, but she pressed on before he could make any pithy quips. “I want to agree immediately, but… I have someone else to consult with. And, to be clear, if I take on this position, what about Eirene?”
Leon cocked his head. “This will be a more bureaucratically important position, so there’ll be people who say that letting her be your subordinate would be a conflict of interest… but I’ll turn a blind eye in this case. She can stay on in whatever capacity you want. She can continue training only your war beasts, or she can be given an official post. Your choice.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Anna exclaimed as she threw her arms around Leon’s shoulders in a tight hug. She then released him a moment later, a look of abject embarrassment crossing her features. In an almost exaggeratedly serious tone, she said, “I mean, uh, yes, Your Majesty, I’m very grateful for this opportunity, I will give it all due consideration!”
Leon nodded. His eyes drifted in Eirene’s direction, too, who was now running a little slower as she watched them, curiosity and concern warring for dominance on her face. “How’re things with the two of you, by the by?” he asked.
Anna gave him a glowing smile. “Well… you said I should talk to her about my concerns about her following us to the Nexus. It was a long talk, but your offer to bring her family with us really helped. And, in the end, I… I asked her to marry me…” Suddenly bashful, Anna averted her gaze.
“Should I take that impressive piece of bling on her arm to mean that she said yes?” Leon asked.
Anna gave him one of the most radiant smiles he’d ever seen grace her graceful features before, telling him all he needed to know.
“That’s wonderful!” Leon responded. He clapped his retainer on the shoulder in congratulations.
Anna began to laugh uncontrollably as her joy overwhelmed her. But she still found the strength to fight through it and thank Leon for his congratulations. “We don’t have any plans for what’s going to happen, though,” she said. “Right now, we’re going to take things kind of slow and get used to the idea.”
“So no weddings to look forward to in the near future,” Leon said. “Got it, got it. Still, congratulations again, I can’t wait to shower the two of you with gifts and good wishes.”
“And we can’t wait to receive them,” Anna said with another cheeky grin. An almost bird-like squawk from Nidar and Astar drew her attention; the two wyverns had crashed into each other as they followed Eirene around the yard, and had started play fighting instead of continuing their training. “Shit,” Anna said, “I have to take care of this. I’ll get back to you about that offer, but I think I’ll be able to take it up. Confirmation in the next couple of days, I promise you!” She waved as she ran to aid her soonish-to-be-wife, leaving Leon standing there with a warm feeling from simply basking in the glow of her happiness.
Another huff from Red drew his attention, though, and he asked, “How about you, then, Red? Making any progress?”
A low growl escaped Red’s maw as her lips drew back in displeasure. [What progress can be made? One leaves for the west, the other is never here.]
Leon nodded in sympathy. The enormous red wyvern had singled out Anshu and the Jaguar as men she was interested in, but the Jaguar was busy in his capacity as Leon’s Marshall, while Anshu had left to handle his personal business in the Indra Raj. He could sympathize with Red’s frustration.
“Has either of them expressed any interest before?” he asked.
Red gave him a startling approximation of a human scowl given her wyvern form. “I have given both mating calls and circled their homes while breathing fire into the air. I have made myself clear. Neither have responded.”
“Maybe you… should use your words?” Leon suggested. “Wyvern signals aren’t going to get through to them. They might attract their attention, but if you’re burning something they care about, they might just be annoyed at your attempts to get their attention rather than aroused or romantically interested.”
[Your human culture is needlessly obtuse,] Red complained. [If a wyvern expresses interest in another, there is no deliberation, only acceptance or rejection. This flying in circles around the point, never quite roosting on it, is the height of human inefficiency.]
“Such is how we are,” Leon agreed. “We like to communicate and make many ceremonies around it. If you want to be direct, though, I’m sure the Jaguar at least would appreciate it. You could find him and make your intent known, in no uncertain terms.”
Red’s head turned in the direction of the largest mustering field around Stormhollow, where the Jaguar was overseeing field exercises being conducted by several thousand members of the central army. She looked about ready to immediately take off before Leon realized he needed to add more nuance and clarification to his statement if he wanted to spare everyone a lot of embarrassment.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he said, freezing Red in her place. “Hang on, let me explain a bit more. Go to him in human form, speak in human words, be direct, and approach when he’s not in public. Visit the Jaguar Tribal estate before he falls asleep, and ask for a private meeting. Explain your feelings, and if he turns you down or asks for time to think, be gracious and give him that time. Wait for him to then make the next move. If you make any move on him in public, it will put undue pressure on him, perhaps even embarrassing him in front of his subordinates. That’s not a good way to get what you want.”
Red clicked her massive teeth in clear disapproval, but she said, [I will defer to you on this, Leon. I will seek him tonight. And if he turns me down, then I will await the other one.]
Leon quietly snorted at how she referred to Anshu. He had his doubts about Red’s chances, but he nodded to her and said, “May your Ancestors aid you in your quest.”
[May they stay dead where they belong,] Red growled in response. [The dead have no place amongst the living.]
“As you say,” Leon replied a little awkwardly. Red put her head down on the edge of the roof and turned her attention back to Nidar and Astar, and Leon took that to mean that she was no longer interested in conversation. He didn’t force more conversation and decided to return to his other business now that he’d made his offer to Anna. He wanted to see how Mari was settling in several days in, and prepare her to deal with Nestor when the dead man arrived. They’d be meeting face-to-faceplate in only a couple days, now, and while they’d conversed extensively with comm lotuses, he wanted to make sure the azurian was ready to deal with Nestor for more extensive periods of time.
More than that, he wanted to make sure that he was ready to deal with Nestor again, as he intended to launch right back into his enchanting lessons. Now that things were settling on Aeterna, he was looking forward to carving out more time for studying enchanting, smithing, and anything else that might pique his interest.
He smiled in anticipation. Time to pursue his interests. That was exactly what he needed.
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