After meeting with Ryker, Leon gave his mother some time to herself. She seemed like she needed it after everything that was said. After about an hour, though, he went to find her.
She’d posted up in a small observation room in his family’s private chambers. It wasn’t even close to being as large as the observation deck that he’d turned into his command center, but it was comfortable, with several armchairs and sofas, and the wall opposite the entrance was enchanted to show the outside, among other things. When Leon entered the room, he saw that Serana had changed it from a projected window to a vision of a mountain covered in greenery. The evening sky in the projection spilled out onto the ceiling, enchantments dying the room in deep reds and purples.
“Was that ever a real place?” Leon wondered aloud as the door shut behind him.
“I don’t recognize it,” Serana quietly replied. Leon wasn’t surprised; he didn’t expect her to be familiar with every inch of the universe.
“It looks pretty relaxing,” Leon continued as he stood next to his mother’s chair. “There are some places near Artorion that are similar.”
“Tell me about them,” Serana whispered.
“Artorion was built in a ring valley at the southern end of a long mountain range,” Leon said. “This mountain range is thick, hundreds of miles across at its widest point. Plenty of valleys, and the slopes of the mountains are largely covered by tall trees, ferns, and moss. Not a lot of grass, but the region is still very green. A few of my vassal Tribes are descended from birds, and they have made these mountains their home in the Nexus. Raivorias is the largest city in the mountain range; the Screaming Eagles built it in a deep valley shaded by enormous trees. But from the higher points in the city, you can look out at the King’s Ocean and enjoy the mountain air, slightly spiced with ocean salt.”
“I hope to see it.” Serana’s voice seemed weak and hopeless, drawing Leon’s attention back to her instead of inspecting the projected mountain.
“You will,” Leon said with a grin. “I don’t care who comes here; I’ve spent too long searching for you to let you go now.”
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “My father usually gets what he wants. If he wants me back…”
“We’ll deal with it,” Leon insisted. “Don’t lose hope now, or you’ll only make your defeat inevitable. Father first taught me that.”
“Artorias never met my father,” Serana argued.
“It wouldn’t have changed his mind,” Leon replied. “Father was ready for anything. Any challenge at all, he always met it head-on.”
Serana seemed to curl in on herself, and Leon decided to change the subject—not that he needed much time to contemplate the decision, as he could already feel his eyes start to burn from talking about his father.
“Your father,” Leon said slowly as he sat next to Serana, “tell me about him.”
For a long moment, Serana remained quiet—long enough that Leon started to suspect that she wasn’t going to answer. But finally, she hoarsely said, “My father. When I was younger, I almost worshipped him as a god. He and my mother were the light in my life. They taught me everything I know. My father was the rock of the Clan, strong and unyielding. He crushed the Azarantine Ilithiens just for insulting us indirectly. The Clan has always been strong under him.
“My mother was the compassionate side of my family. She never needed more than a single look to know everything there was to know about a person. She could sense if someone was feeling wrong, and always seemed to know how to fix their problem. When I wanted to have adventures and wander the universe, she was my biggest advocate.”
“What happened to her?” Leon asked. “You don’t speak of her that often.”
“Kamran happened…” Serana growled viciously. “I was recalled to the Clan after Kamran assaulted us unexpectedly. We were taken off guard and paid dearly for that lapse in vigilance. My father feared I might be attacked while away from the Clan, and sent Fain and Ryker to come and bring me back. My mother had argued against that, wanting to keep me away from the fighting, but my father’s will won out—a rarity, in my experience.
“We fought a short and bloody war. Millions died on both sides, but we still pushed Kamran’s forces back. We are dragons, after all, and there couldn’t have been any other outcome. Except… in the final push, one of Kamran’s Basileis made a suicidal push into our ranks. He… he killed my mother, among others. We captured him alive. His death was slow, but it brought no comfort—to my father, least of all. We lost pieces of ourselves that day. I… I wanted to tell my father about you and Art, to try and soothe that pain. A husband and a son couldn’t replace a mother, but I thought you two could help us heal…” Her expression turned bitter and wrathful for a moment before she schooled it into something more neutral. “Instead, he locked me away and forbade me from telling anyone else about you. Fear has ruled my father’s heart since losing my mother.”
“Everyone feels fear sometimes,” Leon remarked.
“Don’t try to defend him,” Serana chided. “You haven’t met him. He wouldn’t defend you.”
“I’m not trying to defend anyone. I want to understand as much of him as I can before we inevitably meet.”
Serana scoffed. “He’ll be slighted by you, no doubt. Ryker… not to give him too much credit, but his method wasn’t the worst plan. It would have been better if coordinated with you and our brothers and sisters, but… revealing you in a way that leaves no room for doubt while confirming your power…” She turned her golden eyes to him and smiled. “My father, as I knew him before losing my mother, would have been overjoyed to call you his grandson. But now… now, I don’t know. It will be obvious to him that using my hand as a bargaining chip for an alliance is no longer possible, and I can’t say how he’d take that rejection. He seemed to want to have Bennu as a son-in-law.”
“His judgment could use some work,” Leon drily stated.
Serana chuckled but offered no further comment.
“Kamran has much to pay for,” Leon said, his heart accelerating as he committed to taking a risk. “More, I think, than you know.”
Serana glanced at him with curiosity shining from her golden eyes.
“My wife, Valeria,” Leon continued. “We have a lot in common. For one, our families are both enemies of Kamran.”
“Enemies, how?”
“Her mother, Ariana, was a ward of Kamran’s. Her father, Justin, was a minor official working for the man. The two fell in love without his knowledge, and married. When they had Valeria, Kamran had Justin exiled, and Justin took Valeria with him to keep her safe. Ariana, as far as we know, is still safe, but Valeria has never met her. Kamran has much to answer for, and for Valeria, it’s just as personal as it is for us, as he seems to have imprisoned her mother.”
Leon made eye contact with his mother, hoping that he wouldn’t have to directly point out how similar their situations were. Thankfully, Serana turned her eyes back upon the projected mountain, a thoughtful look crossing her face.
“It wouldn’t hurt to—” Leon began before a knock came at the door. Irritation flashed through his head; he was tired of being interrupted. Ignoring the knock for a moment, Leon started again. “It wouldn’t hurt you to talk with my wives more often. Having two bloodlines makes having children difficult, but once we figure it out, those women and I are going to share children. Your grandchildren. Something to think about.”
He rose from his seat, leaving his mother there to think things over. When he opened the door, he wasn’t surprised at all to see Alix standing there.
“Heya, boss,” she said informally—not that Leon cared overmuch for formality. “We… have a visitor.”
Leon blinked rapidly. Ryker hadn’t been gone long, but enough time had passed for him to return to War Cry and tell his Patriarch what had happened—if he was quick.
“Who?” Leon asked, sensing that the same thought had occurred to Serana as she shot to her feet and joined him at the door.
Alix glanced hesitantly at Serana before turning back to Leon. “Said he’s Patriarch of the Great Black Dragons. I was told all dragons are arrogant, but he didn’t seem too put out by being told to wait…”
Alix continued, but Leon tuned her out in favor of projecting his magic senses, immediately sensing the enormous aura in front of the ark. Just as Alix said, two men were outside, one of them the recognizable figure of Ryker, now looking much less pleased with himself. Beside him was a tall man, fair in complexion with black scales around his coal-black eyes. His black hair was long and pulled back into a loose ponytail, while his black tunic and trousers, both lacking much adornment, were of the finest make and material.
In contrast to what Leon would have expected, the Patriarch looked like he was patiently waiting by Storm Herald’s front ramp, just as Ryker had not long ago. Anna and Zhang were out in front, though no one was speaking. Though he had confidence in their abilities, Leon knew that neither of them would be able to do much to stop the Patriarch if he tried to do anything at all.
“Let him in,” Leon said.
“Leon!” Serana exclaimed.
“He’s come all this way; might as well hear him out,” Leon replied.
Scowling, Serana said, “I’m not meeting with him!”
Leon glanced at her over his shoulder. “Fair. Disappointing, but fair. I’ll meet with him on my own, then.”
After a long groan, Serana said, “No. No, you’re not. I’m meeting him with you.”
“Much better. Much, much better,” Leon responded. “I don’t want to face him alone if I don’t have to.” Turning back to Alix, he repeated, “Let him in. Same place we met Ryker.”
Alix nodded, then moved to fulfill his command.
Turning to his mother, Leon asked, “He must’ve left the moment Ryker got back. What do you think he wants?”
“To take me back, most likely,” she bitterly bemoaned. “It’s not happening!”
“No,” Leon said. “No, it isn’t…”
---
Being in the Great Black Dragon Patriarch’s presence was suffocating; his aura was thick and mountainously heavy, and carried with it the occasional whiff of sulfur and burning coals. So heavy was it that Ryker, who stood behind him, was noticeably hunched over.
Leon and Serana, however, were under less severe strain, both able to stand up straight—which they were both doing, as sitting in the Patriarch’s presence seemed too informal for how hostile this meeting was expected to be.
That made it only more surprising when the Patriarch stared at Leon, his face impassive, and said, “I’d heard of you. My blood, here now before me…”
Leon opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated for a moment.
This was their first meeting, and since the Patriarch’s opening statement was fairly ambiguous, that left it to Leon to set the tone. He was sure no one would blame him for being confrontational, but given the Patriarch’s power and proven record of actions taken against his mother, he wondered if a more conciliatory approach wouldn’t be wiser—or at least, something relatively neutral.
“So it would seem,” he eventually said, not yet committing to a stance.
“What are you doing here, Father?!” Serana practically shouted, choosing for him.
“Visiting my daughter and grandson,” the Patriarch stated. “It seems they recently made trouble for the Sun King.”
“Ah, so you’re here to scold me?!”
The Patriarch blinked, then grinned for a second. “No, my dear daughter, I’m not. Why should a dragon care about the complaints of some King so blinded by Khosrow’s Law that he willingly takes part in it? I told him that if he harmed so much as a hair on your head—either your heads—that I would visit war upon his Kingdom such that he’d never seen before.”
Serana was not only taken aback but also took a physical step back, bumping into a chair just behind her.
“No,” the Patriarch continued, “I’m not here to scold you, not even for leaving. That… Prasinos, my radiant brother, and Merenni, my viridian sister, had many words for me recently. They helped me to… see a little more clearly than I have for a long time. Not since I last spoke with your mother have I had such a dressing down. And… I deserve it. My daughter, I believed you made a mistake. Not only that, but I believed that you needed an alliance that couldn’t be broken after our war with Kamran. That was my belief, and I will make no further excuses. I made mistakes of my own in attempting to punish this perceived mistake and in arranging what I believed was right for you. Everything I did was a mistake.”
The Patriarch turned to Leon, his expression softening by no small amount.
“I should have known a scion of my blood would not remain on a backwater plane forever. But I had thought it for the best to leave you alone, to keep you out of our problems, and to allow my daughter more freedom in the future.”
“My home was under attack when Serana was taken from me and my father,” Leon said, willing to push back now that the Patriarch seemed in a more conciliatory mood. “My paternal family was murdered by those who sought my mother. I am the last of the Thunderbird Clan because of this. Even if that wasn’t the case, how in the hells did you think that leaving me on my own was the best course of action? Just allow me to develop my power over fire without guidance? I’m pretty reckless by nature, but that seems… excessively so.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” the Patriarch said as he started to pace. “Perhaps you would’ve been assassinated if I attempted to retrieve you. I made what I believed was the best choice. Whether or not that was the ‘right’ choice… Perhaps it was not. A dragon should never leave his kin behind…”
“What’s done is done,” Leon said coldly. “What now? I assume you didn’t come here just to show off your depression.”
“I’ve had tongues torn out and burned for less insubordination,” the Patriarch grumbled, but otherwise he made no move to punish Leon for it. “I’ll make it plain, then, so that you can understand. I am here, Leon, to meet you and to speak with my daughter. When that is done, I will leave. That is it.”
“That’s it? Just that?”
“Just that.”
“All right. You’ve met me. What words do you have for my mother?”
The Patriarch smirked. “That is not the meeting I had in mind, Leon, but I will speak with my daughter before we get to that. Serana, my dear daughter… I am sorry. For everything. The Clan will welcome you back when you decide to return, but I will not insist on it. Stay with your son, travel the universe, do whatever your heart desires. We will wait for you to return, and when you do, you will be welcomed back as you should’ve been all those years ago.”
Serana snorted derisively. “As if I would ever want to return after what you did! Most of my life was spent imprisoned by my own father!”
“I was only trying to protect you.”
“You kept me from my own son! From my husband! Because you wouldn’t allow me to return, he died! His family died! Father, you have destroyed my family!”
The Patriarch, stoic and rock solid, endured her castigation until she reached the final sentence. Only then did he react, flinching slightly as the pain in Serana’s voice caused it to crack.
“I am never returning!” she declared.
“That…” he whispered, “… You will return. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday. I will wait for you. And you, Leon. As a bearer of the blood of the Great Black Dragon, we will welcome you as one of us.”
“I am the leader of the Thunderbird Clan,” Leon said. “Being ‘one of you’ might be difficult.”
“No Clan can compare to the Great Dragons,” the Patriarch said. “You will see this. I will show you. Let us now introduce ourselves in the way that only dragons can. You must have a training chamber in this ark; take us there.”
Leon sighed as he suppressed a grimace.
‘Of course he wants to fight. Why wouldn’t he?’
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