The fireplace roared, scattering up a veil of bright cinders and sparks that flew up the chimney.

Li sat on a sturdy stool with his legs crossed and his posture leaned backwards. Old Thane sat on his own stool across from Li, the fireplace between them. This was how they generally positioned when they got into more serious talks. There was something about that crackling fireplace that somehow just made it perfect for talks of a more substantive nature.

Perhaps it was how the crackles seemed to fill up pauses in between talks, giving reprieve for Li and Old Thane to think before they spoke again.

They were currently in exactly one such pause. Li looked beside the fireplace where a green-streaked egg lay nestled upon a platform of blankets and skins. The firelight reflected upon its surface, warming the little creature that lay within. If one put a hand to the shell and felt for it, it was even possible to hear the infant's heartbeat.

And beside that egg, curled up by the fire, lay Zagan, now more involved in farm-related talks since he had no reason to hide from the old man anymore.

"Well, lad, I've no opposition to rearing this child, but I must say I've no experience in the matter either," said Old Thane as he rubbed his temple with his hand, now cleaned and washed of dirt from a long day's work at the fields.

"It's surprisingly hands-off," said Li. The Lerneas had given him a few general pointers about hatching the egg before she flew off, but it mostly amounted to memorable quotes such as "make sure the child fights to the near death often lest it does not grow properly" said with oddly contrasting maternal concern in the same way a human mother would tell a babysitter to make sure their child got enough vegetables to stay healthy.

"The species seems pretty independent. We just keep the egg near heat, and in a week or two, it hatches. Afterwards, it only needs a few days to be able to fend for itself."

"Aye, I myself am quite thrilled to raise a dragon by hand, but I worry more about how we will explain it to the world?" Old Thane stroked his beard. "To the crown?"

"Well, the adventurers saw the egg, and the general rumors going around now should make it plausible that the Lerneas had to drop it." Li shrugged. "The story can be simple. I was nearby, an ordinary herbalist just happening to pick herbs, and I mercifully decided to keep it."

It hadn't taken long for rumor to spread of the Lerneas. A general sense of both fear and hope pervaded Riviera. Fear because there was a Lerneas, a creature of myth, on the loose, and hope because apparently, a sudden growth of massive trees had fended it off, indicating the perhaps the Winterwoods still had protective forest spirits.

The rumors weren't entirely wrong. Li was a forest spirit, after all, but nobody knew thought it was him. Many of the older townspeople still remembered when they went to offer animal sacrifices yearly to the forest guardian just over thirty years ago, before the demons killed them.

They thought the previous guardian of the Winterwoods, a spirit by the name of Morrigan, or at least some shade of her, had risen again. Li knew that no such spirit existed. If she did, he would have immediately sensed her, he was sure. She was well and truly dead or, at the least, reduced into something so weak that she couldn't stand out from the life signatures of ordinary monsters and animals.

"As for the crown," Li continued. "They've taken an extreme hands-off approach with us. I seriously doubt they'll do anything to interfere with anything we do. But if they do, then it also lets me get a sense of what they're willing to tolerate, so I'm actually fine with that."

"And of Jeanne? You are certain she is safe, lad?"

"Absolutely positive. She might even be feeling better than before. You don't have to worry about that, old man." Li nodded. "I'm beginning to respect her as well. She's got a good heart. I wouldn't have let her die or get hurt – she's got a lot more she can do with that life of hers."

Li paused to think a little. He had spied the adventurers' movements after parting ways with the Lerneas, using his shadowfly to hover back over to the battle scene. There, he had seen Sylvie and Azhar carry Jeanne back, and it was evident by their hurried pace that even though they marveled at how Jeanne had survived and looked so well, they still wanted to take her to the temples to make absolutely sure she was okay.

That was why Triple Threat hadn't come by tonight. They were probably by Jeanne's temple bed at this very moment, waiting for her to wake up. But tomorrow, they would be here for sure to tell Old Thane of what happened and to help with the harvest as Sylvie had promised.

"You know what, let's get a head-start and control the narrative a little," continued Li. "Triple Threat's going to come over tomorrow, and they're respected adventurers. Their word is the law, basically, so what I tell them won't get disputed.

I'll tell them that I was picking herbs when suddenly, I come across an egg that got dropped on a bush somewhere. Then I can even tell them I caught a glimpse of this so-called Morrigan fighting off the Lerneas to calm the city's nerves a little. If they have a witness confirming their guardian is back, I'm sure they'll be able to sleep a little better at night."

"Will the humans not grow reliant on this supposed guardian oncemore?" said Zagan, his ears twitching. "They will try and contact it, lay offerings, perform communing rituals, but they will hear nothing."

"I'll say the spirit looked really thin or weak – I'll brainstorm with Iona as to how a weakened forest spirit looks like. I'll frame it as something that helped them just once so that they don't get a false sense of security and don't go about making an unnecessary ruckus in the woods."

"A reasonable decision." Zagan stiffened, the fur on his body almost bristling. "But I am afraid we have veered from the topic at hand."

Li and Old Thane nodded. The egg and the health of the adventurers were important, sure, but this wasn't the main reason why this meeting was being held. The future well-being of the farm was far more important.

"What do you think's going on with your kind?" said Li.

Zagan sighed. "Forgive me, Great One, but I have thought, and yet answers elude me. I did as you commanded when I first came under your service. I returned to the Swarm and spoke to the Burning One. He invests great respect within me, placing me as one of his seven heralds, and so he understood when I warned him to halt his invasions."

"Mayhaps he felt a sour taste in his mouth when you turned your loyalties away from him," said Old Thane.

"Preposterous. We are far unlike you fickle humans that forge so very many laws that none of you adhere to," said Zagan, snorting to reject the very notion of that idea. "He of all demons understands very well the only law that we respect – the law of strength, of power over all. He did not begrudge that I wished to follow another stronger than he."

"But you only gave him a warning, right?" said Li. "Warnings are ignored all the time."

"I made it clear that to venture east to mortal plains was to face you, and that to face you would be to face annihilation." Zagan shook his head. "No, there is something else. The fact that he has not dismantled the Swarm in of itself is an unprecedented act that breaks from a millennium of tradition."

"Aye? How so?" Old Thane leaned forwards, equal parts curious and questioning. "I know we humans think mighty different from you, but in my experience, a general does not part easily with his army. He would be willing to throw them into inevitable destruction so long as he be the man to send the order. Power is not easily parted with. And an army that size that hungry, aye, it is no wonder he has sent it to feast."

Zagan paused. "I will acknowledge that possibility. The Burning One spent centuries amassing his might, rising from an imp crawling in the dirt to an Archon mighty enough to invoke the Rite of the Swarm, uniting the chaos of our tribes under one banner, to try and wrest dominance over the world as our ancestors so nobly attempted a thousand years ago. It would be understandable were he to hesitate dismantling his life's work, and yet-"

Zagan shook his head again, his crimson eyes gleaming as they focused on the fireplace. "To assume the title of the Burning One is a burden of tremendous weight. It is to know that under his feet lie the lives of every single demon.

To wager an invasion upon the mortal plains is truly all or nothing. The Burning One must be absolutely confident in his victory, for anything less would disrespect the responsibility invested unto him. A Burning One that leads a conquest must succeed or perish in the attempt. There is no withdrawal. No retreat.

He understands that a foe exists that far surpasses him. He is a being of tradition, and tradition demands that he revoke his title as Burning One upon knowing that there is one superior to him and scatter the Swarm back to its natural chaos."

Li raised a brow. "I see. What it comes down to is that this Burning One is now somehow confident he can fight me."