On the journey north, Bolt in Shadow had struck a more leisurely pace, allowing Leon and his companions to take in the sights and reminisce about their journey together.

In stark contrast, the journey south was fast and direct.  They cut almost straight southeast, bound for Occulara, and made no stops of any kind.  Leon also demanded that they push the engines as hard as Anshu was comfortable with, and the Indradian was only too happy to put the ark through its paces—while he’d been in command of the ark for decades, he’d never had much of a chance to see what the ark could really do when pushed.  The pace he set satisfied Leon about as much as it could have; they drew close to Occulara barely less than a week after leaving the Bull Kingdom.

Leon, however, remained all but locked in his cabin aboard the ark throughout the entire flight, with only his wives being allowed to see him.  He hardly ever so much as looked out the projected windows let alone used his magic senses to see the places and environments they were passing by.  The tour had given him much to think over, from the existential implications of immortality to the more personal problems given to him by Fain.  He even spent more than a little bit of time wondering just what in the hells Planerend was doing—the Primal Devil had seemed to just vanish after his release, but Leon would’ve expected him to have made a bigger splash in the universe.

Regardless, as much as he logically knew that Planerend’s release wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t help but feel some responsibility for it.  If he had the power to aid the Grave Wardens in tracking down their errant charge, he would’ve offered it.

The scenery of Aeterna simply couldn’t compare to these thoughts.  The enormity of the tasks he had ahead of him weighed so heavily upon his mind that there was little room for anything else.

Reestablishing his Clan in the Nexus and rebuilding it to its former glory.

Contacting, then freeing his mother, likely angering the Great Black Dragon Clan in the process.

Lord Kamran was in dire need of an intimate introduction to Iron Pride, and Valeria’s mother needed to be freed from his grasp.

Planerend had to be found and, if not killed, at least returned to the Divine Graveyard.

Any of these problems could take a hundred lifetimes to accomplish, let alone all of them.  And that wasn’t even touching on the single greatest problem he faced: his own inability to conceive a child.  He couldn’t help but wonder what the point of all this was if he was the only member of the Thunderbird Clan remaining, with none coming after him.  If he was the last, then to keep his Clan going, he’d have to live forever.  And if he was going to live forever anyway, and with no children to protect and pass that power down to, then what was the point of accumulating that power in the first place?

In his darker moments during that flight, Leon answered that question with a blunt, ‘Not much.’  He had no need for grand political power.  If it got him the revenge he wanted, then he would pursue it, but being King was hardly his favorite thing ever.  If he ever had a worthy successor, retiring and living as the Grand Druid or Anastasios did was his end state.  He didn’t want to be King forever.

If he couldn’t have kids, however, then he’d have to be an eternal King.  He’d already built his Kingdom, there was no turning away from it now.

His mood grew darker and darker the more these thoughts ran through his head, but whenever his mood grew too foul, he’d pull out the memory slate given to him by Fain and replay his mother’s message.  The more he played it, the more defeated she sounded, the more desperate and pleading.

Such a mood was upon him when Bolt in Shadow arrived in the skies over Occulara.

---

“… Then… if we can… I hope we can be a family once more…” Serana’s projection stated, hope and despair visibly warring over her features.

A knock at his cabin door demanded his attention, but he hardly turned his head away from the projection.

“Always remember: I love you two dearly.”

Those words were like a nail to his heart.  The mother he’d never known but always longed for, wanted to be with him… and his father.  And that would never be.

He’d listened to the message enough not to break down at the words despite being alone, and he was grateful that he didn’t, for the door opened a moment later.  He wasn’t surprised to see Valeria standing there, an almost sheepish look on her face.  Only his family had access to his cabin, and he was a few doors into a private area, so the knock was more polite than it truly needed to be.

“Hey,” she said as she slid into the cabin.  Leon had kept the lights off to focus more on his thoughts, and she didn’t turn them on as she closed the door behind her.  “We’re coming in to land.  Figured you’d want to be there.”

Leon sighed.  “Yeah,” he whispered.  However, he didn’t move to get off the meditation pillow he’d been sitting on for several hours.

Silent as a cat, Valeria walked over and sat down next to him.  “Silver for your thoughts?” she asked.

Wondering what to respond with had Leon silent for long enough that she kept talking.

“I think I know what’s on your mind.  I’m pretty sure we all do.”

“Everyone?” Leon asked, unsurprised.

“Everyone,” Valeria confirmed.  “Hard not to notice that something’s wormed its way into your head when you lock yourself in a dark room for almost a week.”

“Could be a man just wants his privacy.”

“A man could be full of shit.”

A quick glance at his wife had Leon almost snorting with laughter at the look of cheeky accusation on Valeria’s face.  He pulled her closer and simply held her.

“Thinking about your mother?” she asked, nodding meaningfully to the still-active projection of Serana emitted by the memory slate that Leon laid on the floor to hold her.

“Hard not to,” he replied.

Valeria hummed in agreement, her eyes still turned in Serana’s direction, though Leon didn’t need to wonder if it was his mother who had captured her attention.

“We’ll find them,” she said with determination.  “No doubt in my mind.  Anyone who gets in our way, we’ll kill.”

Leon burst out with the first full belly laugh he’d had that week.  “Simple as that, is it?” he asked.

Valeria shrugged, and Leon couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.  Even if she was, he didn’t think it was that bad of an idea.  Hardly his first plan, but carving a path of blood and death through everything that separated him from his mother would always be a valid, if potentially suicidal, option.

But it wasn’t even close to the time to contemplate that option.  He had to get to the Nexus first and assess the situation from there.  Until then, it was all one big unknown—which in and of itself was terribly stressful, but he could deal with it.

With a sigh, he released Valeria and pulled the memory slate into his soul realm.

“I suppose I’ve brooded long enough, haven’t I?” he said as he finally pushed himself back to his feet.

“You deserve to brood every now and then,” Valeria responded as she did likewise.

“Maybe if I were only a man,” Leon opined as he stretched and rotated his joints, eliciting a few loud cracks.  “But I’m not just a man; I’m also a King, a husband, and a friend.”  He paused in his stretching and gave Valeria a long, searching look.  “Why’d it take this long for someone to come in here?”

“Elise figured it was better to let you sort yourself out,” Valeria explained.  “She’s been worried, but that was her opinion.  Maia and Cassie were more in favor of kicking the door in and dragging you back out into the world.”

‘Maybe they should’ve,’ Leon silently grumbled.

Aloud, he asked, “Could I ask you a favor?”

“Anything,” she responded with a glowing smile.

“It’s been what, nearly a week?  Don’t let me brood this long again.”

Valeria gave him a mischievous smile.  “Try something like this again and I’ll drag you out by your one-eyed knight.”

Leon replied with a playful laugh.  “Why, Val, it almost sounds like you’re trying to threaten me with a good time.”

“It wouldn’t be so good for you,” she smoothly shot back.  A subtle shudder ran through the ark’s superstructure, which they both could feel.  Valeria’s expression turned serious and she said, “We’re landing; we should get moving.”

“Yeah,” Leon agreed.

When they emerged from Leon’s brooding cabin, he almost ran right into Cassandra.  Behind her stood Maia, and down a short hallway, Leon could see Elise watching from the small atrium of their family’s private cabin.

“You’re out!” the blond Evergolden Princess exclaimed.  She grinned for but a moment, her demeanor shifting into something more furious the next moment.  “What in the Ashen Fields have you been doing in there?”

“Thinking,” Leon replied.  “Planning my conquest of the Nexus.  That sort of thing.”

Cassandra huffed.  “Whatever.  Let’s go; my grandmother’s waiting.”

“And the Director!” Elise called out.  “And the Lord Protector!  And many others!”

Hearing the mild reproach in her tone, Leon internally cringed but kept his expression neutral and stoic.  “Let’s go meet them, then.”

---

“Let’s get all of this straight,” Leon said to open the meeting he was leading with some of the most powerful people on Aeterna.  He sat at the head of the table; to his right and left were Anastasios and the Grand Druid, respectively.  Moving down the table was the Director sitting across from Cassandra, Penelope across from Maia, Valeria across from a comm lotus-projected Iron-Striker, and finally Elise at the other end of the table.  Leon looked at these people and asked, “We now have less than a year until we depart for the Nexus.  What final preparations do we need to make?”

He looked first at Anastasios.  The Lord Protector was already looking younger than he had before he achieved Apotheosis, but on closer inspection, Leon attributed that to vigor and purpose; his power and newfound confidence had him sitting up straighter and moving with more energy.  Same with the Grand Druid—she had a youthful spark in her ruby eyes that hadn’t been there before.  If what Leon knew of post-Apotheosis mages was accurate, the two of them would look as young as he did in less than a century.

The Lord Protector shared a glance with the Grand Druid.  “The two of us must secure our Empires.  More than anything else, we must ensure that our successors have attained the required power to maintain their power.  My grandson must reach the tenth-tier.”

“As must my daughter,” the Grand Druid added.

Leon nodded.  Both Emperor and Empress, spurred over the past half century by the Lord Protector and Grand Druid, had reached the ninth-tier.  From what he understood, they were even approaching the tenth.

He tapped his knuckles on the table a few times, debating with himself whether or not to make this call.  After a few seconds, he decided that it wasn’t that big of a loss in the grand scheme of things since it ensured the Grand Druid and Anastasios would accompany him to the Nexus and lend him their power.

“I’ll have a bottle or two set aside for each of them when the next batch of ambrosia is finished being brewed,” he declared.

“That… is most generous,” Anastasios stated.

“And appreciated,” the Grand Druid added.

“And expensive,” Iron-Striker pointed out.  He gave a meaningful look to Leon, and Leon knew what he was trying to say without directly stating it in front of those he didn’t entirely trust.

In short, he was worried that the elders would be offended by Leon sending such valuable resources to foreigners.  He’d already informed Leon of a few disparate complaints from some Tribes over the few apples, then bottles of ambrosia after they finally got a handle on the brewing process, that he’d sent to Anastasios and the Grand Druid over the years.

“The cost is no matter,” Leon said, his tone of finality putting the argument to bed.  Iron-Striker nodded to confirm he understood.  “We’re going to be expanding our groves anyway once we get our new tree sprites to Exotikos.  Moving the entire grove will be difficult, but that won’t happen until after we establish a good beachhead in the Nexus.  All batches brewed before then will be shared amongst the elders.”

“An… interesting policy,” Anastasios observed.  “I would’ve advised that they be kept and awarded based on performance once you returned from the Nexus.”

“Returning from the Nexus isn’t guaranteed,” Leon explained.  “Even if the expedition doesn’t fail, that doesn’t mean I will be returning anytime soon.  Besides, if we have a need for reinforcements, we’ll need them to be strong.  Any situation that the three of us can’t handle will demand such strength.”

“…  Practical,” Anastasios hesitantly stated.

“And risky,” the Grand Druid added.  “But it’s your people.  If you state that they won’t revolt in your absence, then we’ll trust in your judgment.”

“The Tribes are loyal to their King,” Iron-Striker declared without a hint of irony.

“We’ll see when the time comes,” the Grand Druid replied.

“Moving on,” Leon interjected before they could get stuck on that one issue, “do the two of you have need of anything else?”

“A few reserved seats for retainers wouldn’t go amiss,” the Grand Druid stated.  “We won’t bring more than a handful each, but…”

As the Grand Druid trailed off, Cassandra jumped in.  “Mages of their station should have some servants and companions, Leon.”

“Room can be made,” Leon allowed.  “I can allow a dozen companions for each of you.”  As the two former monarchs nodded their agreement, Leon’s eyes slid to the Director.  “How about you?  Do you require servants or a grand household?”

“No,” the old man replied with an almost patronizing smile.  “I only require some support to achieve Apotheosis.  That support doesn’t have to come immediately, I should state right now.  I can handle all of my personal business on my own.”  He paused to quietly chuckle.  “I won’t be the Director then.  I’ll just be another man ready to see the universe.”

“Then you won’t stay with us for long?” Leon asked.

The Director frowned a moment.  “I’ll stay until I’m struck by wanderlust.  Assuming I even achieve Apotheosis, mind you.”

“You’ll get there,” Penelope firmly declared.  “I won’t be going so far away from home just to lose my father.”

“There you have it, Leon: I will achieve Apotheosis, and then I’ll stay so long as I feel like it.”

Penelope huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

“Furthermore,” the Director continued, “I have been moving pieces into place for my succession.  Naturally, since I have pledged Heaven’s Eye to you, Leon, I thought I ought to get your opinion before making anything more overt.”

“Who are the candidates?” Leon asked.

The Director gave him a bitter smile.  “It was going to be Penelope, but she’ll be following me.  After her was Emilie, but she’s also following us in the second or third wave of migrations.  Same with her brother.  That leaves me with few options—only two, actually: Narses or Talal.  No one else is as powerful or respected as those two.  The next Director of Heaven’s Eye must be unquestioned.”

“Narses,” Leon said without too much thought.  “Talal has done some good work and his attitude has improved dramatically compared to when we met, but…  I trust Narses more.”

“Talal is the better manager,” the Director murmured, “but Narses is the better leader.”

“How ready would you say Narses is for something like this?”

“He’s ready,” the Director assured Leon.  “Though he’s been the Chief of Security for a long time, he’s not someone who doesn’t understand business—he was an accountant by trade if you can believe it.  He only became a fighter after I made him Chief of Security.  And he threw himself into learning how to lead the branch and winning the respect of those beneath him.  He’ll do the same with his new position.”

“Good,” Leon said.  “Is there anyone else we might want to poach from Heaven’s Eye?  Not specifically people that have to accompany us to the Nexus in the first expedition, but just anyone else?”

“There are… a few,” the Director cautiously said.  “Why do you ask?  They’re not going anywhere in Heaven’s Eye…”

“No,” Leon agreed as he glanced at the slightly concerned-looking Grand Druid and Anastasios, “but Heaven’s Eye’s declaration of fealty won’t last after you’ve… let’s call it ‘retired’.  After that, they can return to their policy of neutrality.  We shouldn’t be interfering too much with Heaven’s Eye’s operations once we leave.”

The Director blinked rapidly in surprise while the Lord Protector and Grand Druid looked surprised as well, but also relieved.

“Why?” Penelope asked.  “Having Heaven’s Eye’s resources will be good for your Kingdom.  Why disturb the supply chains?”

“Those supply chains aren’t particularly large,” Leon reasoned.  “And it’s not like they’re going anywhere.  At worst, we’ll be paying a little bit more for imports and will be paid a little less for exports.  What few of both we have, anyway.  Keeping the peace will be more valuable.”  He paused and leaned forward to impress upon Penelope his intention and seriousness.  “I want Aeterna to be stable.  I’m leaving; your father’s leaving; the Grand Druid is leaving; and the Lord Protector is leaving.  These are stabilizing influences that the plane might find itself in want of.”

“Thus partially why we want our successors to gain in strength before we leave,” Anastasios offered.

Leon nodded in acknowledgment.  “The last thing I want to deal with when I’m trying to focus on the Nexus is some fool war on Aeterna breaking out because we’re not there to stop it.”

“Peace will be kept,” Iron-Striker promised.  “I will ensure it remains so.”  He wasn’t going to accompany Leon and the others in the first expedition, as he’d be needed to keep the Tribes in line while Leon was in the Nexus.

“Unfortunately,” Cassandra quipped, “peace is something everyone must maintain.  It won’t just be up to you.”

“I will do what I can,” Iron-Striker again promised.  “And I can do much to keep the peace.”

“I trust that it will be enough,” Leon reassured him.  He looked around the table.  “Is there any other pressing business that we have to see to before we leave?  Concerns?  When we leave, I want us focused on the task ahead, not worrying about the plane we’ve left behind…”

“The only remaining concerns I have will be handled by my grandson,” the Lord Protector stated.  “The ruling of the Empire will be on him.  He’ll be ready for it, though.”

“As will be my daughter,” the Grand Druid pledged.  “However… Cassie, my dear girl, you have to return to Evergold before we leave!  It wouldn’t do if you left your mother, sister, and brother without saying goodbye!”

Cassandra frowned but didn’t argue.  “Fiiine,” she responded, looking almost like a sulky teenager.

“Let’s get all this done,” Leon ordered the group.  “Leave no business behind.  When you come with me to the Nexus, I want us all to be as free of worries and regrets as possible.  We leave in less than a year.  Be ready.  I will not allow any delays.”

He received nods from all around.  Though he left it unstated, he hoped everyone understood from his tone and demeanor that if they were late, then he wasn’t waiting for them.  He wasn’t going to delay reaching the Nexus if they couldn’t handle their business.  Any possibility of delaying and preparing further for their departure died the moment Leon first heard Serana’s message.

For his part, he was practically chomping at the bit to leave.  He was grateful that everyone was so competent that there was little business left to handle.  It seemed that their departure from Aeterna, at least, was going to be smooth.

Their arrival in the Nexus, however… would remain to be seen.

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