Li sat down in front of a towering ash tree he had created, resting his back against the sturdy trunk. Tia sat in his lap, nodding her head from side to side as she hummed a little tune she had picked up from somewhere. Probably in the streets of Riviera.

The tune made Li realize how far away they were already from the city he once never thought he would leave. How he would get even farther and farther away as he went West. It was oddly fitting, in a way. He left Riviera just as he came to realize he wanted to influence more than his farm – he wanted to shape this very world.

Or, as he was coming to realize more and more: protect it.

The wind picked up, the low sing song of a gentle breeze fluttering through the air and picking up a stray leaf or two -the first time a breeze had ever touched anything green here for nearly two centuries. In a way, it was remarkable how much of a fresh start Li's very presence gave this place.

It heartened him to see the life sprouting out from where there was once nothing. Almost an indescribable feeling, but if he had to give words to it, it was like seeing a child's first movements. Something small with the potential to become much, much bigger.

He looked down to Tia, hearing her hum and seeing her take her attention to the sky where the sun started to set, casting its warm, amber glow for one last time before night took over its celestial duty. She had that potential too.

For the past few hours, Lira, who now lay with her hands forming a pillow under her head atop a bed of grass and flowers, told Li about what to expect in the future regarding Tia. After all, there was no better person to tell him this than a high dragon herself.

She commended Li about what he had done so far. Told him that he was right on the mark about giving Tia the best food possible and letting her have the freedom to take hard fights for herself.

That was how dragon kin evolved, though, as Lira noted, with an entity as powerful as Li being Tia's soulbound, the eating part became less necessary as she would naturally grow strong just by being with him.

Still, consumption accelerated the strength growth process, not to mention that Tia liked to hunt and fight.

Overall, as time passed, Tia would grow, maturing into her teenage years within the span of the next two months.

Then, her aging would rapidly decelerate, only getting slower with age, until by the time she hit what would be the mid twenties to a human, it would take time on the order of centuries to have her age even five years.

Lira confessed that she did not know what it would be like for Tia's aging process because of her unique connection to a being like Li. Likely, Lira theorized, Tia would age even slower than normal dragon kin, perhaps never aging at all once she hit her physical prime.

Tia's mind would mature as quickly, though that did not mean she would automatically learn about the world. Instead, her base instincts to fight and to consume would sharpen faster than did her worldly knowledge, making her more aggressive, perhaps even cruel, but with guidance and experience, she would find a sense of self balanced with her instincts.

What Lira did worry about was the nature of Li's fragmented being. A human sense of self, a side of life and guardianship, and a side of old, alien being all mashed together.

Indeed, the high dragon was surprised Li had even managed to stay so stable a being this far, and no doubt, had he not had someone like Old Thane to tie him to the human things he liked and Iona to guide him through melding his guardian powers, he had no idea what he would have been like.

Now, it was only a matter of assimilating his nature as an Old One with the others. Seemingly impossible, but already, Li had made tiny baby steps towards it by committing himself to Order. Still, the sheer vastness and scale of his Old One nature meant that he had to essentially lock it away, and that, Lira warned, could produce issues for Tia.

Tia grew to be like Li through their soulbound connection. Even her appearance embodied this. She could look like a human but had pieces of life and death, order and chaos, speckled across her. For now, she stayed in relative harmony, but as she grew, drawing deeper into Li, she would find herself in conflict.

The very same kind of conflict Li had to overcome.

When that time came, Lira said, Li would have to be the mentor to guide Tia through it all, for Lira herself knew nothing of a soulbind situation as unique as this.

Hopefully, Li thought as he smiled down at Tia, he could be there for her. Be the mentor she needed. No, he had to be. It was his duty as a parent.

The sound of the Vukanovi shambling into sight got everyone's attention, and Li propelled the Vukanovi forward with a flick of his wrist, making a platform of roots carry it across the air and plop it down by the glade surrounding the ash tree.

The top of the pumpkin familiar's head opened up, and everyone sprawled out.

Nobody seemed much worse for wear other than Mason and Mercer, their hair a mess from probably tumbling around when the Vukanovi retreated from Li and Lira's battle.

"Gods," said Old Thane as he leaped down from the Vukanovi, his boots hitting grass. He breathed in deep, his broad chest expanding like a wall. "How the air here has changed. Smells as clear as the air in Riviera!"

Sheela and Vilga leaped down behind Old Thane, tentatively stepping across grass as they curiously sniffed the air too, finding not fog, but fresh winds carrying the scent of flowers and freshly grown grass.

Asala slithered down the side of the Vukanovi with surprising speed, taking note all the while of the area around her, probably sketching it to provide a before and after contrast in her records.

"The Seer can do anything," said Sheela with a proud nod. "Brings life and peace everywhere. Even where there is none. I don't like some thing he say. About demons, too. But still know he will make things right."

Vilga nodded, but being more reserved, did not say more.

Mason and Mercer tumbled out of the Vukanovi and crumpled on the grass, exhausted from being pinballed around the insides of the familiar, most likely. Zagan sailed over them, landing neatly on all fours. The demon gave the two young men a scornful glance before trotting away, lying down beside Li.

"The Seer, eh?" said Lira. Li had gone over her about what he had done in this world as well. She knew what things about him to keep a secret. "I was never a fan of this god or that. Always so complicated, that topic. So many things calling themselves gods, too, and so many of them so easily killable."

She stretched before sitting up, smiling, her sharp fangs visible and rainbow eyes twinkling. "But I have to say, if ever there was a god to believe-," She pointed a finger to Li. "Then whichever one he champions is the right one."

The sound of heavy stone thumping down on grass drew the party's attention back. Asala had dropped her tablet, and now pointed her stylus at Lira with trembling hand.

"What is it?" asked Mercer, worried as he hovered a hand over his sheathed daggers. Mason, seeing his brother on edge, also tensed up.

"Take thee hands of thy weapons lest humiliation fall upon thee," said Asala, and the brothers eased up. "I am merely overwhelmed. Worried I was that perhaps this was not the true Lira, that she was felled by the Seer, but now, to see that she is well and at peace, it doth grant me excitement."

"Hello," said Lira with a big wave.

Asala slithered up to Lira with a bow, picking up her tablet along the way. "If it may please thee, great adventurer, will thou not talk with us? Tell us of thy adventures? For to fill in the incomplete records of Lira the Seeker shall surely prove to mine sisters that this world is yet worth braving to record."

"Oh, a Serpi," said Lira. "Good to see your kind remain as beautiful and curious as always. And I am not so sure. I tend to ramble, and I've no guarantee I can spin an entertaining tale. That is the realm of the bards and songsters, and I have little more than a warrior's brute ways."

"Aye, I'd still be game to hear ye," said Old Thane as he made his way up. "For once, someone other than me will be telling tall tales of their adventures. Though in your case, I should reckon they truly are impressive."

"So you finally admit you tell some tall tales here and there, old man," said Li. "Though don't yourself down. You've got plenty of eye openers yourself."

"Heh, but none compared to the legendary Lira the Seeker." Old Thane waved everyone in. "Come, Sheela, Vilga, lads. Why not hear from a living legend herself?"