Ryan was at a table eating with Veronica, Jeff, and Andrew that was in the middle of the constant noise of coming and going students and servers. The place had white and blue tiled floors with the table having white cloth and ornate oak chairs. They were eating at the middle dorm’s mini restaurant, as everyone else was trying to. When Eli and his despised wife stayed here two days ago, it had set the rumor mill on fire with every tongue wagging about what had caused it. When word got out that it involved elves, the tongues raised a whirl wind. There had been some nonsense about Eli beating elves, but the mages and students didn’t believe such peasant nonsense. In spite of that, the rumor oddly persisted.

“Did you see when he came in?” Veronica on Ryan’s right asked the waitress in a white gown and black top. Veronica was sipping on her special cup of tea, complete with a black V on the bottom showcasing her ownership of the item. The servant between her and Jeff got visibly stiffer as she finished taking the blonde’s order.

“Yes, Ma’am. He was rushed up to the top floors in a flash with some staff. I heard he had a pleasant night, though I couldn’t say with whom.” She said as she pulled back her brown hair and wrote down the water scions’ meal, retelling the famed event like she had a thousand times before now. Considering everyone was doing everything they could to find out what happened, she may very well have told it more than that. She then turned her green eyes towards Ryan with a meaningful look “If the rumors about him killing elves are true, may I be so bold to suggest that mending relations would be a good idea.”

Ryan’s put on a strained smile that didn’t reach his sharp cheek bones as she turned away.

“What was that about?” Andrew asked from the left chair, his oceanic teal eyes showing genuine curiosity. The red head at least had the manners to wait until after he bit into the bread offered as an appetizer before he asked.

Jeff, sitting opposite of Ryan, had the same eye color as his brother and showed off as much when he gave them all a dramatic eyeroll for the benefit of everyone at the table.

“Haven’t you heard? Ryan’s the main rival to Eli. It all started with that dust up in the cafeteria on the first day and now their enemies till the day they die.” Jeff said with dramatic flair as he ran a hand through his short black hair.

Ryan’s own black hair covered his head as he leaned forward to stare at the tablecloth with exhaustion.

“We aren’t rivals. Father is too busy trying to relive his youth through me to pay attention to anything I have to say. The last thing I need is the elf killer thinking I’m a threat.”

Veronica raised a blonde eyebrow at that, her heart shaped face and blue eyes showing clear disbelief as she snorted.

“You really think it’s true?”

The three men at the table looked at each other, all showing a mix of disbelief and hesitance. With the question still hanging around the table, the meal finally arrived and gave them the excuse that they needed to not answer. Getting it down with plain water as quickly as they could, they all immediately headed towards Tansen’s office in the central tower of the academy. The graduation was supposed to be yesterday, but the rumored incident had delayed the ceremony as personnel were moved and changes were made to the security. With Tansen calling them all to the main office, there was a tension in the group of people stuck in the enigma of not quite being friends but not mere associates either.

As the most powerful mages on campus, the students and staff immediately made way for the small group wherever they went and as they came up to the white tower with a red shingled roof, today proved no different even with all of the secretaries and writers running around as they passed through the main entrance and up the stairs on the sides of the entrance. Passing by the two guards with white and blue armor, they came into the office with Tansen behind his oak desk talking with two other staff members and going over a lot of papers in the soft glow of the mana lamp above. He was wearing the typical black kimono with a sapphire wave but the sheer exhaustion he exhibited made the fine clothes only clash with his state of seeming ill-being.

“Ah,” Tansen’s brown eyes lit up as he saw them approach.

Andrew went to the far left with Jeff to his right, while Veronica stood in-between Jeff and Ryan, who was on the furthermost right. Tansen dismissed the two staff members, who respectfully scooted by.

“Good. I called you here to inform you that there has been a change in the graduation ceremony.” Tansen said with a bit of pain coming in his eyes at the last part. “The government has twisted enough arms to have the other Coalition academy heads file a complaint about Eli’s graduation. As such, you four are going to be front and center.”

There were confused faces all around as even the guards gave an incredulous hiccup.

“What?” Jeff asked.

Tansen gave a tired sigh as he leaned back into his chair.

“The official reason is that Eli’s lack of siring is a point of concern and is possibly grounds for dismissal from graduation. Unofficially, if you can’t see that they’re doing this because a student mage is easier to control than an official one, then I will strike your name out from the graduation list and send you back out west to let the wildlands beat sense into you.”

Everyone bit their lips as they looked between Tansen and each other until Veronica spoke up.

“But I thought siring wasn’t a part of being qualified as an official mage.” The blonde said, her heart shaped face getting a hurt expression as she bit her pink lips in frustration and angst.

Tansen’s goatee drooped as his brown eyes got a look of sympathy. He closed his eye for a moment before looking back towards Veronica.

“It isn’t dear. I’m sure you all heard about how a member of the military threw Eli to the wolves over some bandits wishes.”

That got a lot of vigorous nods, which prompted Tansen to continue.

“They broke a lot of rules to make that happen, but the rules seem more like an afterthought these days whenever they become troublesome. The committee is breaking more rules to make this to happen and no one will try to stop them. If you want to learn anything in these trying times, pay close attention to the coming events. You’ll learn more about government and humanity than you ever wanted to know.

But this isn’t a ‘let’s talk about Eli’ meeting. You four will be front and center at the ceremony. There will be a lot to do in the coming days and we need to start preparing now.”

From there they went over the minutiae of clothing, etiquette, and where they would be located on the platform. When the meeting was finished, Tansen told them the graduation ceremony was delayed for three more days. Nodding and wishing each other goodbye, the group retired to their regular chores and tasks until the next day. Ryan was in the main room of his home, the dark oak walls and hard stone floor giving the room an almost cave like feel if not for the two windows on the left wall, the entrance to the lawn in the back and the mana lamp in the middle of the ceiling.

Scattered about the floor were various leather pieces with his boulder like armor laid out on a table in the middle. The room had some furnishings when he first moved in, but it had since had been converted into an impromptu workshop and the fire elements he was working with meant easily flammable material needed to be vacated. Even the beloved portrait of his mother was moved to the main hall as Ryan tried using the boosting craft Eli had showed him to give him more power in the arms and legs.

Having met with partial success in the arms, it only made his troubles with getting the leg enchantments down more frustrating as his work continued well into the afternoon. Before dinner time, a knock at his door interrupted his lining of an air enchantments leather strap along the thighs of the brown armor. Getting up and going to his front door, what waited behind it was heavily armored men in green armor.

“Evening, we are from the Central government and we would like to do an inspection of your house before an important guest comes in.”

Looking behind him on the main walkway to the other houses, Ryan saw Tansen in his typical black kimono nodding.

Moving to the side, three other men in steel plated armor came in and looked his home over for traps and assassins while blowing gusts of wind with air magic to take out any crafts. Ryan got a bit of sweat running down his sharp cheek bones and black hair when they came over to his worktable, but they were skilled enough that they didn’t disrupt his work.

When the men were satisfied, the guest in question was brought in.

He was a taller man with short, smooth black hair flecked with grey. His cheek bones were strong, not sharp like Ryan’s, and he had the air of a man who wielded power. It wasn’t until Ryan looked at the slight chin that it occurred to Ryan who he was seeing.

“A-Are you President Johnson?” Ryan asked with wide eyes.

A slight chuckle was all the man gave. He put a hand to the white shirts gut and looked at Ryan with mirth in his deep green eyes. After idly wiping some bit of dust off his grey pants, he walked up to Ryan with an outstretched hand.

“Indeed. I’m surprised my likeness is well known out here.” Johnson said jovially as they shook hands.

“Your sons. I know them well enough that I immediately thought of them when I saw you.” Ryan said, feeling pretty upbeat at having such an important man at his home.

Johnson nodded again.

“It seems the letters the boys have been sending me were accurate. Good, good.” He said with a look back towards Tansen, who was now coming through the door.

The academy head came forward and did a light bow to the president.

“If you had told us beforehand that you were coming-“

Johnson put up a hand to stop him.

“I’m here for two reasons: to see my boys become mages and to get a firm grip on this business with the quad mage. Send for a bunch of chairs and everyone who has interacted with him.”

Tansen bit his lip before taking a deep breath and raising his objection.

“Having the meeting here seems improper. If we could move to somewhere more fitting for someone of your statue, would that not be far better?”

“Somewhere that you’re more comfortable in, I assume? No. If I’m going to be in unfamiliar territory, then everyone else might as well be too. I can tell you don’t seem very familiar here either so it will do nicely, if master Ryan doesn’t object.” Johnson finished with a questioning gaze towards the man in question.

Ryan did a gracious bow with a slight smile.

“Of course not. I’ll go get a quick dinner and come r-“

Tansen put up his hand for silence before speaking.

“We’ll do a little catering with a small table, if the meeting will be a long one.”

Johnson rubbed his clean-shaven face for a moment.

“The next few hours could very well decide the fate of everyone here and the whole of the Coalition, so yes, it will be quite an extended affair.”

That got a gulp out of Tansen and Ryan. With the academy head rushing to get everything in order, Ryan and Johnson were left to talk about life at the academy and the earth scion’s history. Johnson seemed particularly pleased when Ryan got to the part about his mother serving in the military. As servants came in with various small sandwiches, sliced hams, salads, and pitchers of lemonades and teas, Jeff and Andrew finally came through the front door.

Rushing up to their dad after a moment of surprise, they got into a three-way hug by the table of refreshments on the right side of the room.

“Dad, I thought you were too busy to come.” Andrew said with a huge smile.

“Bah! All that crap back home couldn’t keep me away from seeing my boys become mages. I was going to make it a surprise, but that crap has a lot to do with what’s here, so I decided to mix family and business.” Johnson said as he playfully rubbed the two boy’s heads.

“Where’s Henry? I thought you two were a team?” Jeff asked. Johnson got a sad smile at that.

“He was getting older and the stress of dealing with the rise of the orc menace in the south did him in. Poor man, so far away from the battlefield and it killed him all the same.”

The three started talking amongst themselves about times with the old friend until everyone came in.

Veronica with her two friends Mia and Eska were on the left side of the room while Ryan, the twins Ren and Len, and Joey sat on the right. The short haired twins with sharp noses and chins had been content to work with Ryan in a few crafts and felt comfortable enough to sit by him on each side. In the north section of the circle was Tansen, Agatha, Koal and Rand, while the southern half held Jeff, Andrew and Annie. The middle of the room had the worktable moved out and, in its place, stood Johnson, who coughed before assuming his natural vocation.

“Thank you all so much for attending.” Johnson said with a warm smile. “Now I’m sure I don’t need to tell you all why I’m here.”

That got nods all around.

Len raised his hand, which Johnson nodded towards.

“I don’t know why my brother and I are here.” Len said with a confused look in his green eyes.

Joey’s own green eyes behind his thick green glasses showed similar confusion, but the slim brown-haired boy didn’t have the nerve to speak up.

“I need everyone here who had any real interaction with Eli and -Ah you’re Bess and Beth I assume?”

Out of the main door came two more women. Beth’s wavy brown hair bounced as she surveyed the room with her purple eye’s that vaguely matched the pink fur of her coat while Bess, the plain woman with green eyes and shoulder length brown hair, moved to sit by Tansen in between him and Agatha. Finally, Beth puckered her mouth with the mole above her left lip and sat between Jeff and Joey. Bess picked at her blue and white striped robes at catching the attention of so many people while Beth was content to fix some of her sons’ wild hair around his glasses.

“Yes…Sir?” Beth asked.

“Johnson.”

Beth and Bess both raised eyebrows at the name, reaching for the vaguely familiar name.

“President Johnson Fulton.”

A flash of surprise played across the two women’s faces before Bess squeaked.

“Eli?”

Johnson turned around and nodded.

“Indeed. I heard there was another boy involved with him, but he has since passed.”

After another round of nods, Johnson clapped his hands together with a warm smile.

“Now that we’re all here, I want every detail, every event, every word that has been said to and by the quad mage.”

It was a surprisingly arduous affair. Everyone had been treating Eli like something between a charity case and an interesting bauble in the early days and he had been out a lot less once he became a quad mage. As such, the timeline of events and its causes were hard to establish. Once everyone had given their perspective leading up to today, the main point of disagreement seemed to be how much of an affect the ‘trial’ had on Eli.

“Eh, he should be fine now.” Andrew said with his hands crossed over his gut as he leaned back into his chair “After the news broke out that it was a sham, I’d think the suicides that followed would annul the pain. I don’t think that’s what’s causing him to keep away from the women.”

“It’s not just how it ended.” Veronica refuted. “He started getting a lot closer with Salamede afterwards. Maybe if that hadn’t happened, she would have stayed his maid and he would have a human wife now.”

“Not wife, she is not his wife” Agatha corrected with a strained smile towards her daughter.

Veronica looked towards Eska, the black-haired girl with glasses and a sharp chin, to see the similar disbelief in hers and Mia’s brown eyes. The choppy red hair of the tough tomboy did a little sway as she shook her head in disappointment. Johnson was off by the refreshments table on the right side of the room, taking everything in with silence, stopping only to ask a question every now and then. Which is what he did now.

“What I’m having trouble understanding is how he hasn’t had any children yet. Even from his early days as a crafter, he should have had no trouble getting even one or two girls in the sack.”

A slight cough from Beth drew everyone’s attention. Her success at getting close to Eli, where all others had failed, drew a great deal of respect from the women present and with it, the respect of the men.

“He’s something of a loner. Not eager for company and more than content to spend his day’s tinkering in his little corner of the world. But when they find someone they do enjoy spending time with, especially as a romantic interest, they hold on with an iron grip. That’s why going after Salamede was such a foolish idea. He’d be fine in some hovel out in the woods with just her and that kind of person can’t be seduced with promises of riches or prestige.”

“How would you know that? You just met him once on a defense mission for a barge and some time at the school.” Koal demanded, her short black hair twisting with her pout as she puckered her dark lips as her two moles along the lower left side of her pulled with the expression.

“The eyes.” Beth refuted. “He wears a mask and you’d think he’d be a secretive, manipulative type, but the truth is his eyes can’t lie worth a damn. When he thinks about Salamede, they light up, but when the talk of magic and all the endless possibilities of his might is mentioned, they look no different than when he passes by some roadside refuse.”

“It’s not the censure, then?” Johnson asked with a throat that sounded parched despite the tea he had been drinking.

All the students, Tansen, and Bess nodded, to the dismay of all of the other adults. Johnson shook his head as he leaned against the table and strummed his fingers before the academy head spoke up.

“We did say as much in our report.” Tansen said with a raise of his black right eyebrow.

“Bah! I know that.” Johnson waved his hand dismissively. “People took what they wanted out of that. Saying the Kelton woman is a seductive snake is a far less embarrassing and destructive narrative for the Coalition than the quad mage doesn’t care about the mage world and I was hoping what was politically useful would also happen to be true, as rare as that is. Am I to believe the rumor I heard about the Kelton using yook root?” Johnson asked the room.

“Yes,” Agatha answered with a hard frown and an icy look that crept into her blue eyes.

Johnson bit his lips for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and looking to the rest of the group in exasperation.

“You can say all you want about what Eli really wants, but it looks a lot like she’s manipulating him.”

Tansen coughed into his hand before raising his objection.

“She told me he would only sire if it meant it kept a family from starving or saved lives. With the proviso that the money to do so couldn’t be gotten from selling space-expanded items.”

Johnson looked to the ceiling with a dramatic roll of his eyes before he turned to a guard at the door.

“See if Eli isn’t too busy to visit. Let’s stop sniffing around for what he wants and just ask the man directly.”

As the guard gave a light bow and headed out the door, Tansen huffed.

“Hearing it from Salamede is as good as hearing it from himself. There isn’t a waitress, maid, tailor, or loving housewife who would hesitate to open her legs for him with just an interested look. It seems he also has the ability to plant his seed considering the guards reported that, after smearing the elves on his walls, he had enough vigor left that he went on to plow Salamede later that very night. Despite that apparent ability, our halls are filled with bitter women grumbling about his lack of sex. Even with the right conditions, I’d imagine it would still be a hard thing to get him to put out.”

The puckered lips and pouty looks on the women’s faces accentuated the truth of his words.

“Sadly, that doesn’t really matter.” Johnson said with a tired sigh as he took in the resentment of the ladies. “There are too many people with too much investment in him to let his own feelings get in the way of the true good. Congress is going to show that Kelton woman the door, one way or another.”

Jeff snorted, drawing looks from around the room.

“Investment? Is he some merchants boat or stock? What has anyone invested in him when he had to foot the bill for his own tuition, food, and housing? Besides, who he spends his days with is his own business. It wasn’t a big issue before and now, all of the sudden, he has to give up his woman because the snickering dolts frown? That’s not unfair, it’s just cruel.”

That last bit made everyone’s eyes flicker behind Jeff to Annie for the briefest moment, a 32-year-old woman with moles along her neck, chest and left eye that showed in her black working dress that was typical of the Front’s members. Her red hair was so dark it was almost black except around the edges, which threatened to match her face as she visibly struggled to not look at Jeff. The couple were the worst kept secret on the campus, as whenever they looked at each other Jeff’s eyes alone conveyed the true nature of their relationship beyond just a boy and his former wet nurse.

Johnson did a long sigh as he rubbed his forehead. Looking at the floor for a moment, he turned back up with a hard face.

“Eli is not meeting his obligations, Jeff. The rest of society is not going to stand being denied his gift.”

Jeff puckered his lips as he furrowed his black eyebrows.

“Eli is a person. What he, I, or anyone else decides to do with our loins is our own business.”

Ryan, sensing they weren’t only talking about Eli anymore, tried to make himself invisible as he scrunched back into his chair as Andrew bit his lip and tried to not look at his brother. Johnson’s handsome face got some red on it as he looked at his son with a blank face.

“Do you know why your relationship with Annie is tolerated, while his with Salamede is not?”

That sucked the wind out of Jeff as Annie just stood as still as a statue, trying not to meet anyone’s eyes. Jeff, however, recovered and maintained enough dignity to answer.

“No. Not really, I’m a dual caster after all.”

“There are two reasons: You’re still spreading yourself out and context. Tell me, Jeff, why are you and Eli so powerful?”

Jeff bit his lip for a moment before answering.

“Because we can summon lightning, fire, wind. That allows us to unleash devastating attacks against our enemies.”

Johnson shook his head.

“No, you are powerful because of context. The fact that the vast, vast majority of people in this world have no magical abilities, with even fewer among those that do being blessed with two elements, makes you powerful. If everyone in the world was a lightning scion, you, my dear son, would be very weak.”

He stopped for a moment as he turned his eyes to the rest of the guests.

“We’ve been getting reports out of the Phoenix empire that they are getting ready to move their troops from the front lines and through the swamps. Think about the Latra incident, when the first report came in that the birds went through the swamps and burned our southernmost city to the ground leaving us exposed to the orc’s attacks on our supply lines? Now multiply the army that did that several times over.”

The room went totally silent as beads of sweat dripped down the faces of everyone present, but Johnson had their attention now and seized the opportunity.

“I’d invite you to imagine the pirates of the Burning Mist landing on our shores, but I cannot do it justice. When hulking, moving forts on water rain fire down on the shore and land their hermit crabs the size of houses to trudge up through our roads, how could I properly describe a herd of them tearing through these lands and towns? We have no reason to believe they will even be the worst ones to face. The Phoenix empire, for the first time in its history, is bringing their namesakes to bare in this fight.”

A long moment passed of breathless silence as everyone took in what he was saying. It was only due to his seasoned nerves that Tansen spoke first.

“That seems like something that should be a military secret, as far as information on the enemy goes.”

Johnson snorted.

“There is no secrets in this fight, at least in the military side of things. The sheer scale of the movements involved make this all impossible to hide. The Rodring kingdom is martialing its forces and trying to contest for a spot in the southern region as coming in through the well defended coast would take months. There are even some rumors that they are even bringing in their special squad of scions, led by the king’s daughter to his beloved queen Nestel, away from the Bloody Plains and into this fight. Though the queen Verness, tasked with the eastern and southern regions of the kingdom, is the least favored, she is the most skilled and will do everything in her power to bring Eli into their fold.

And this is all happening because of context, Jeff.

When Eli was a first revealed, everyone knew he was powerful and his children would also be a force to be reckoned with, but there was no place in our understanding of magic to put this new power in. Earth mages performing poorly against fire mages, healing mages being weaker in direct conflicts but being invaluable in long term campaigns, these are all well-known principles of the magical world. We thought it would be years before we could properly establish where to put him in our understanding of mage-kind, but that incident a few days ago gave us what we lacked: context.

Quad mages are stronger than elves.

The time of pleasant diplomatic talk passed when the spies passed those words on to their superiors.”

Johnson emphasized his next words by pointing at the floor.

“Those armies are all coming here. They will tear through this country like ravenous wolves into a deer to get at him and it will be an expense well spent. The decisions we make in the coming days will decide which nation goes down in history as rising to the top. Eli is the door through which our entire species will surpass the elves, the dwarves, the fairies, and even the natural world itself. That is the scale of what we are dealing with, those are the tens and hundreds of thousands of people who will be dead in the coming slog as they march through our backyard, and that is why one person’s feelings cannot be allowed to obstruct the way things have to go, even if they are the person at the center of all this.”

Joey had fear plain in his green eyes as he raised his hand, which Johnson nodded to.

“S-Should we be here? After all, they’re only here for Eli.” That got some anxious nods from the twins. Johnson got a hard face as he pulled himself up to his full height.

“If there was anywhere safer for you to be, Eli would be there already. The Elves Clay and our defenses in the west acts as a huge obstacle to the Rodring’s attacks while the long distance from the southern region means anyone coming from the south will have to make a long arduous march here. With the advent of Necrosis, they will suffer horrendous attrition from constant attacks by the undead and we are making changes to move as many undead in their paths as possible. To say nothing of the existing defenses we have in the west and as for the north… I’ll be honest, we are just going to put our best troops around him and hope that it will be enough to put off any more elven… visits.

As for you personally, the fact that you are known to associate with him is enough for the other countries to target you. We’ve had several attempts to kidnap various members of congress and the military since the incident with the elves and it is only the remoteness of this place that has kept you all safe so far. But make no mistake, anyone with any connection to him is now bound to him closer than any bond of blood or friendship. If you were his favorite stall to pick up breakfast, regular companion on the way to class, if he ever looked at you with more interest than he would a random patch of dirt on the ground, you will be targeted. The other countries will take any leverage they can and if kidnapping the kid who once delivered his mail gets them even the slightest chance of landing him, they will take it.”

The assembled audience looked at each other with sweaty faces. The older ones expected as much, but the students were just now figuring out that this meeting was as much about them as it was about Eli, causing a small orchestra of whispers as the various groups turned inward.

“And,” Johnson said with a loud voice, cutting through the chatter, “That is why we need to know the full circumstances surrounding him. How this plays out is undetermined at this point but speeding up the spread of Eli’s abilities is of the utmost priority. This delay has already caused irreparable damage. Perhaps if he had a few seedlings in amongst the peasantry, this war could have been avoided by them trying to kidnap his children, but this is where we are now, and it needs to change NOW.”

It was Tansen who coughed before speaking up, his face showing some hesitation.

“As logical as that all is, human beings aren’t that easy to manage. Pushing him too hard could come back to bite us.”

Johnson gave him a measuring look, but it faltered when Agatha gave a snort from the Left of Tansen.

“Who are you to direct this conversation? You won’t even give us the whole story about how Eli came to be with all that panic over him when he was still just a ‘crafter’” The older blonde sneered dismissively with a shake of her blonde bun.

Johnson and the others looked at Tansen with a questioning gaze. The academy head kept his head up and met their eye’s, one and all, before answering in a hard tone. His face projected calm, but the grit of his teeth gave away his true irritation.

“I told you my concern for my students is first and foremost in my mind.” Tansen said.

Johnson took a deep breath as he looked Tansen up and down with a disbelieving look until he sighed, and his posture softened. His voice showed a strain as it carried around the now silent room.

“Whatever the reason, you’d best be prepared to defend yourself in a congressional hearing. The committee is coming to the midway base to conduct official hearings on this matter. Several heads of other academy’s will also be present to provide expert testimony. You, Koal, and Agatha are being called to… testify is a word, but undergo an interrogation would be the truth. From their recommendation, it is a very short path to having the Kelton woman put under a treason charge.”

The three at the center of the group’s attention started getting a light sweat, with Tansen recovering first.

“And would a veto from you be enough to overturn the charge?”

Johnson chewed his lower lip.

“I don’t know. There are enough nervous members in congress that might overturn my veto, but I’m not committed to a veto yet. Be that as i-“

The front door opened and through it came Eli and his Kelton wife, Salamede. The quad mage wore his typical smiling metal mask and, rather atypically, wore a fine red, sleeveless vest with silky red pants and a white undershirt. Salamede was done up in her fine purple dress that had red vines running up and down it with gold inlay and white embroidery around the wrists and the considerable neckline.

“Ah, just the couple I needed to see.” Johnson said as he stepped forward and put out his hand for a shake. Eli took it with a nod and his eyes looked on with approval when Johnson extended the same courtesy to Salamede.

“If I may be so rude as to get to the point.” Eli asked in a polite tone, “The messenger said you were a high ranking official and you wanted to see us in Ryan’s house, though what connection you have to Ryan also interests me.”

Johnson nodded before looking over to Ryan with an appreciative nod.

“Our relationship is one of a squatter and the unfortunate house owner. Coming here to get the full story behind you would be better in relatively unfamiliar territory for everyone as opposed to Tansen’s office, where he would have more of a home field advantage.

As for who I am, well I’m the president of our great nation.”

Johnson paid close attention to Eli as those purple eyes darted to Tansen for confirmation, which the academy head did with a nod. Turning back to the president, Eli regarded him with a cool interest while Salamede was biting her lip as she stared at the floor.

“Aside from your son’s graduation, I assume you’re here to talk about whoring me out.”

Johnson cracked a slight smile as he seemed to trip up at Eli’s lack of decorum. Salamede, long used to her husband’s want of refinement, swatted his arm, only to then suck in her lips as she remembered her relative insignificance compared to the two men. That brought a proper smile to Johnsons face as he crossed his arms, which only made Salamede turn back to the floor.

“You must be very close. I’ve worked with noble couples for a long time, as surly and greedy a bunch that most of them are. More curse than blessing, that lot. I can count with one hand how many of them were so close that open correction like that would be tolerated, from either party.”

“So why tolerate them?” Eli asked with a raised eyebrow, “From what I’ve read, the Coalition was rather ill disposed towards them even after giving them a chamber in congress.”

“More than ill disposed, actually. There was a real attempt before that concession to get rid of them, but then reality stuck its big fate nose in the pie.” Johnson said with rueful sigh “The harsh fact is that magical talent runs the world and that talent, barring a few wonderkids like Jeff, comes from the blood. With so many mages being from tightknit families, trying to get rid of the noble houses meant putting all of the major house’s crafts and services out of commission.

There was actually a trial run where a noble house that did high quality ship work was replaced with a more merits-based guild. What ended up happening was only the kids from the plant, wind, and water mages had the ability to make the enchantments, run tests, and mold the wood of the ships or at least make and maintain the crafts to do so. From there the whole thing quickly became a noble house in all but name, so the vaunted change away from the petty feuds of lords and houses was abandoned.

And the lesson behind that experiment was that magical talent is something that comes before everything else. A lesson that now brings me here. Your magical talent is something that will define our age and as such, we are getting reports of several nations moving their armies to come here.”

Johnson stood straight as his deep green eyes looked at the couple, with Salamede clenching her fists even as she still refused to look up. She did give a start when Eli pulled her closer to him, looking like she was a treasure Johnson might try to snatch up. After a moment of appraisal, Johnson continued.

“Eli, I know this is a hard issue for you, as it is for many. But whatever hesitance you have about spreading your seed needs to be pushed aside. For the good of your people, your country, and the whole of humanity, you need to get learn to let loose. By denying yourself the pleasures of the flesh, you are denying the world an unfathomable gift. If this continues, the drive to pull down your wife will only intensify.”

A cold emptiness passed in Eli’s eyes before he took a deep breath and squeezed his nervous wife’s shoulder.

“I will not. The conditions for me doing so have already been laid out, yes?”

Johnson nodded slowly.

“Good. Know that even those concession were only made because Salamede, my love, made such a strong, insistent case for them. If that is all, then I-“

“You are being unfathomably selfish, Eli.” Johnson said with a reddening face. “Thousands of good men and women in the army are going to be dead in the coming weeks and months to make sure you stay out of enemy hands, all so that we can start off a wonderous new age for the Coalition. No, the whole of humanity. Imagine a world where healers, builders, and magic smiths are available everywhere because just one person is needed for all of those essential tasks.

How many lives will be saved from the cold nights and empty bellies? Even with the undead about, how easy would it be to make the food, housing, and medicine for all the peasants with your plant and healing elements? We are two or three generations from solving so many of the problems that plague our entire species, both internally and externally. You, by your lack of action, have abandoned your obligations to society and your people.”

“Obligations?” Eli demanded in a strained whisper. “What about the obligation to not run people over whenever its convenient? Where was the people’s obligation to me when I got thrown in the trash heap?”

Johnson cooled a little as he spoke.

“That was the unfortunate actions of a single individual. You can’t allow that one person’s shortsightedness get in the way of a better future for millions of people.”

“One person,” Eli scoffed with a raised eyebrow. “You lot have done nothing to dissuade me from thinking that they were the rule rather than the exception. The minute I was forced to reveal my true abilities, the first reaction was to maul my wife. Your way of dealing with troublesome people is to just cast them out or try and squeeze them whenever they get out of line. There was all this moaning and outrage about selling me off to the bandits because it was against the Coalitions political interests and now that I’m the one acting against their desires, those same bullying and vindictive attitudes immediately came back.”

Johnson stood there with a blank face as he absorbed those words. Apparently, he had no comeback as he nodded in defeat, but he was still determined to try and work the situation for all he could.

“What do you want Eli? What, at the end of all this, do you desire?” Johnson said in a calm, measured tone.

“I want to be happy.” Eli said, a slight crack in his voice giving away the raw emotion. “I don’t care about prestige, wealth, or endless power. I just want to be happy and Salamede makes me happy.”

The Kelton woman had a blush so deep it showed below her collar bone even as the rest of it was covered by her grey fur. Johnson stood there for a moment of contemplative silence as he nodded. When he finally spoke up, he had a more formal tone.

“Thank you for coming. I will be here for the graduation ceremony and may need to talk with you again. As long as you have no one here you want to talk to, you are free to go.”

Eli nodded and turned to go with his wife before Johnson spoke up again.

“Oh, and one more thing. Obviously, you can handle the elves but as an added measure of protection, we are adding a lot of mages from the military and the elite forces to the local guard. No point in going through all this only to have you drugged and kidnapped while you’re out in the market.”

Eli and Salamede nodded before finally going out the door, with Salamede now clutching her husband possessively as she pushed her bust against him.

Johnson spared a brief look at the retreating couple before turning back to the main group, who had looked on the proceedings with respectful silence.

“Well, have you any insights or thoughts on that little exchange?” Johnson asked them, seeing only a mix of shifting eyes until he met Tansen’s brown eyes. After a moment the academy head finally spoke up.

“You were right. Eli withholding his gift due to his own personal hesitance is selfish. Having all of these soldiers die so he can work through his emotional issues is ridiculous. Denying that wonderful future to humanity because of his personal needs is damming. I don’t think there is anything you said that wasn’t right.

But being right and being wise are not the same things.

Salamede, as long as I have seen them together, has been a voice for restraint in his actions. She is the only one with the connection and inclination to induce him towards our goal, no matter what we found in their room or what congress may think and that is something that I will testify to with great enthusiasm in the hearing. Removing her will not get you an Eli that does what you want, it will get you an Eli without the constraints that we have been enjoying. It is not logical, reasonable, or right, but it is the truth.”

Johnsons green eyes flicked to Koal sitting to the right of Tansen with a look of expectation, which the red dressed scion provided as her short black hair swayed from a cough before she gave her opinion.

“Eli is a seemingly very reasonable person, right until a line is crossed. From what I’ve read and seen, that line typically involves bandits and thugs who attack his people. With his brutalizing of the Central enforcement officers, wearing a badge doesn’t seem to affect his judgment on the people involved. I’ll tell you this, while I would love to get a child from him, I have no intention of being on the receiving end of his cruelty, of which he has displayed a profoundly creative vigor for.”

Rand was to the right of her and the bulky man with a metal shoulder guard over a plain white shirt and brown pants, wiggled his brown mustache with a nod of agreement. Coughing into a leather glove, the still pseudo leader of the local guard put in his bit even as his green eyes showed some sense of resignation.

“I’ve been talking with the boys. A lot of them either had to pick up the remains of that flayed gang member or stay guard over him in the days after when the poor sod was slowly healing back to full bodily health. No chance of mentally recovering of course, he’s a hopeless cause as far as sanity goes.

They all said, in no uncertain terms, if Harold does another stunt like the one he tried on the first day when he told them to arrest Eli, they’ll quit on the spot. Good men one and all and they’re paid good money to risk life and limb but there are some prospects even the strongest stomach can’t bear. If you want to force things, you’ll have to do it with those soldiers you’re bringing in.”

Johnson seemed to deflate as the words of the three washed over him. He stood still with his eyes closed until he opened them again.

“Rightness or wisdom aside, what happens now is up to congress. I only hope you lot can make a powerful enough case to the committee. If it looks like they will have enough votes to override a veto, then I’ve got to go along with it. We are at a critical juncture for our nation and the average citizen needs to be worrying about food, housing, and the coming conflict, not a public brawl between the presidency and congress. Thank you all for giving me your precious time.” He finished with a nod towards the others.

The rest shuffled out while Ryan did some small conversations with a few people, which came to an end when he saw Jeff and Johnson standing in the hallway looking at the portrait of his mother. Johnson was on Jeff’s left and as Ryan went to Jeff’s right, he caught the tail end of the conversation.

“-were supposed to be wed by now, but there never seemed to be a good time to go through with it and now the chance may have passed us with how jumpy Eli has made everyone when it comes to breeding obligations.” Jeff fumed as Johnson turned to Ryan.

“Ah, thanks again for your hospitality. I was just discussing women trouble with my smitten son.” Johnson said with a look towards Jeff, the near six-foot-tall 18 year old in student robes who couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Annie had been too embarrassed to stay after the meeting but apparently Jeff wanted some answers.

“Father,” Jeff started with a gulp. “How… How long have you-“

“You were looking at Annie with a clear interest when you started staying awake longer through the end of your gestation. Always looking at her form like you were wondering what lay beneath her clothes. Then you went on that vacation to the central continent. After that little trip, you didn’t seem as mystified by her, like what was under her dress wasn’t a total mystery anymore.

Know that it is only the improvement in your tutor’s assessment of your writing and physical training that accompanied your dalliance that kept me from saying anything, combined with her ‘secret’ acquisition of yook root shortly thereafter. Those two things convinced me she was a good influence on you and she wasn’t just pumping you for a quick and easy ticket to the good life. Such a love might still cause some trouble, but it’s not like I’m one who can talk about troublesome romances from a position of moral superiority.”

Jeff kept his oceanic eyes on the painting as Ryan stood beside him, trying to look like he was intensely interested in the chair Ryan’s mother was sitting in. The woman had smooth cheek bones, aside from which, Ryan seemed to be a male copy of. From the black hair, green eyes, and sharp nose, the familial connection was undeniable.

“And am I correct in assuming she is your mother?” Johnson asked Ryan over Jeffs stooped shoulders.

“Yes, lovely woman and an example to us all from what I’ve been told and was quite fond of her time in the military.”

Johnson’s eyes scrunched up with puckered lips to form a pitying look.

“It’s both good and sad when a member of the military dies away from the battlefield. We get to be back with our loved ones, but we survived through hell only to die from something so mundane as to be beneath us. Do you know her story?” Johnson asked with a raised eyebrow.

“She took a trip over the edge of a cliff, sir.” Ryan said with a little sigh.

Johnson looked at him up and down with a disbelieving look.

“Are you sure whoever told you that was sober?” Johnson asked with hesitant look back to the portrait.

“Yes, why?” Ryan asked, raising his eyebrow in turn and outdoing the president by biting his lip.

“She was a member of the mountain gliders,” Johnson said with a pointed finger to the wood medal done in the shape of a white bird.

Ryan followed the finger to the wide bird covering the right shoulder as Jeff stared off into his own little world.

“What’s that? I was told my mother was a part of the military, but that part of her life was always short on details.”

Johnson’s eyes warmed up as he smiled and indulged Ryan in a bit of military lore.

“The mountain gliders were people who used air enchanted crafts to… well glide down large mountains carrying information or more typically their scouting reports. Not a terribly creative lot we have in the military as far as names go, but a group of people worthy enough to receive magical crafts have the stength to make the name a respected one.”

Johnson put out his hand for a shake, which was interrupted as Ryan took a moment as his brain processed what was it just heard.

“I… What do you mean? That the white bird is a craft that would prevent her from falling to her death?” Ryan asked in a distant voice.

The snapped Jeff out of his stupor as he also looked to his father with a questioning look.

“Yes, if it was well maintained. Using it to prevent deaths and injury from ‘small’ heights is the first thing that is pounded into their skulls. The things are designed so that it can be activated at a moment’s notice. I’m afraid whoever sold you that story was playing a rather cruel joke if she took as much pride in her military service.” Johnson said with a sour note of disapproval.

Ryan got himself under control as he did a light bow and finally shook the offered hand.

“Have a great day, President Johnson.” Ryan said with a strained smile. They took that as a que to leave, the father/son duo moving through the front door with a final goodbye. Walking over the oak floor back into the main room directly ahead of him, Ryan turned to the right and saw Tansen, Agatha, and Koal talking in the back-left corner as the servants scurried about moving chairs and the leftover food. When Tansen saw Ryan approach, the conversation stopped.

“Hello” Agatha said, standing to Tansen’s left.

“I… I have some questions. About my mother.”

Koal got a raised eyebrow with a puckered lip, but the fire scion’s action was to merely bow with a curtsy of her red dress.

“There is no information that I can provide here so I will retire for the day.” Koal said with a meaningful look towards the window which showed quickly fading orange in the sky. Tansen and Agatha looked as exhausted as they had any right to be, but Ryan’s questions had more importance than what social grace would otherwise allow.

“Is it true that she had a craft that would have prevented her from falling off a cliff to her death?”

Agatha and Tansen looked between each other with a flash of worry. The servants were efficient enough that the last of them were placing his worktable with the boulder like armor back in the middle of the room and promptly vacated the room to leave the three alone. It took a long moment as the academy head and Front representative looked at each other before Tansen spoke.

“Staff indulging in such gossip is heavily frowned upon, especially when no evidence can be provided. Whatever the rumors surrounding your mother say, the-“

“Rumors?! Gossip?!” Ryan said in a whisper that desperately wanted to be a full-throated scream. “Are…Are you telling me other people know about some foul play with my mother’s death?” His green eyes lit up as his sharp nose flared in a scowl.

Tansen bit his lip but Agatha to his left stepped up and tried to salvage the situation with a blank look even as her voice was heavy with trepidation.

“Ryan, I need you to calm down before I tell you what the rumors were, all right?”

Ryan unclenched his fists and stood totally still as he reigned in his anger. When he was at least visibly calm, Agatha started.

“There are some servants who were around at the time who have since been let go. Since their firing, they made it a constant practice of telling their friends and employers about how Leeroy was on the way out of the marriage. They say, with no evidence mind you, that your mother was preparing to petition for divorce due to his impregnation of several maids and the filching of her hard-earned money. A rumor that was quite bolstered when people remembered Leeroy always complaining about his wife at various bars.

When put together with the nature of your mother’s military craft, that inclined some people to making certain… theories as to her demise when they pulled her from the river. Whatever the preferred theories, sharing such information with you was a subject other were too afraid to bring up”

“Theories like my fathers an idiot?” Ryan said with a cold anger as his mind raced through all the people he had ever seen. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember anyone acting weird when the subject of his mother came up. Even so, the rage at being at the center of such whispers his whole life and only finding about it now aggravated him to no end. “That he was about to lose it all and now had the prospect of being denied the bounty of being a part of a scion’s house and all the whores, wealth, and fame that went with it? But he was too fucking stupid to check what my mother’s items actually did before he blundered his way into explaining her death and forced everyone to tip toe around an obvious lie.”

“Woah now.” Tansen said as he raised a hand and a hard look. “That’s a lot of accusations based on a lot of the unknown. No matter what it looks like, I do know you were taught well enough to at least know about the possible failings of crafts. From the wood being broken the day before, to the enchantment itself getting damaged without her knowing, to a spot of weak mana, there are any number of possible reasons that the craft could have failed. Those are often replaced and is it really so impossible that the one she kept as a trophy could fail when deployed after several years of disuse?”

Ryan bit his lip, his heart a turbulent storm even as his mind saw the cold logic of the possibilities. Feeling a hand on his left shoulder, Ryan jerked out of his inner thoughts as Tansen looked at him with sympathy in his brown eyes as he stroked his goatee of black hair with his right hand.

“Go ask your father. There are certain… appearances to be maintained so make sure to send the servants out of the house before talking with him. It would not due to give life to these rumors when there might be a perfectly legitimate explanation for all of this.”

Ryan nodded as Tansen shook his hand and Agatha followed up with a light hug before they both left. Looking around the room, the earth scion decided that he would approach his father as both a scion in the fullest measure and a son. Donning his brown, boulder like armor with a heavy helmet now covering his whole lower jaw with a face guard dotted with holes, Ryan left his house after picking up the fire hammer with the original flaming lions head of stone. Coming into what was now the proper domain of the night, he went through the black gate that sectioned off the scion’s houses from the rest of the campus, with his familiar bounding from the huge main entrance ahead of him.

The walking boulder with stone clubs for legs and arms, had its bits of gems studded along its bodies emitting the brown mana of its alignment. Some of which wafted over his face as the knee-high boulder was lifted onto his right shoulder. The crowd readily made room for the walking mountain as he took a right at the entrance and continued down the path to the more well to do side of town.

The bitter cold of the winter night only barely registered in his mind as he ran over the story again and again. Of all the objections in his mind, the one that kept coming up was the one that stated no person could be so incompetent as to commit to killing his wife without finding out about what the medal she always had on her shoulder did. Ryan, perturbed at how he wasn’t immediately objecting to the notion that his father could commit such a heinous crime, was also irked about something else but couldn’t quite put a name to the thing. A few seconds passed when he suddenly found his thoughts interrupted as he saw the fine, two story house that he had visited a few times before amongst the rows of the well-to-do accommodations.

Like the other noble houses on this side of town, it was more stone than wood. As the hideaway the nobles retreated to every winter, the small gardens in front of the well maintained houses and generally high quality of everything from the windows, tiled roofs, and chimneys was almost surreal when compared to the cramped near shanty conditions only a stone throw away. Nowhere near as opulent as even the lowest accommodations at the academy proper, but it was the sudden contrast that always threw so many unfamiliar visitors off.

But Ryan was more familiar to these contrasting images than most and this time he approached the house near the middle of the row closest to the water with a purpose more clear than any he had had before.

Walking up the stone staircase to the front oak wood door with iron bands that served as the main entrance of the grey stoned house, he knocked. Looking up at the now starry sky, it took a surprisingly long time before his third knock was answered. When the door opened, a rather harried looking butler answered. When the older man with grey hair looked up at the mountain deigning to notice him, his white shirt under the black attire immediately showed some sweat falling on it as the candle below his chin showed off his surprise.

“M-Master Ryan! I’m so sorry for making you wait. Come in, come in.”

Ryan came through the front door, the demanded imposing figure of the entrance making it easier to get in that most others.

“Hello, what’s going on here?” Ryan asked in an unsteady voice as his previous worry was replaced with confusion.

There was dust along the stand to the right for guests to put small items on. With the marble stairs directly ahead and a view into the opulent living room to the left with a wide coach filled with silk pillows that sat opposite of embroidered wooden chairs while on the right into the dining room was the wide, fine table and chairs, all made with the finest dark oak with a crystal chandelier in the middle, Ryan knew there should be more servants about. Looking at the corners of the dark brown marble of the floor, he saw bits of dust everywhere that was illuminated in the candlelight that was provided by the servant’s candle dish and at several alcoves in the light brown stone wall.

“I saw my father fire a maid for failing to get a corner on a bookshelf. What has happened to let him get so lax in his discipline?” Ryan asked the older man.

“You are currently speaking to the sum of the currently employed staff, master scion.” He said, his grey eyes looking downward when Ryan turned around to him.

“What?” Ryan asked in a perplexed voice.

“It’s a matter of some obsession, I’m afraid. A few days ago, your father locked himself up in his room, only leaving to meet the bare necessities of the flesh. I have not been privileged with any information but whatever he’s working on, it is important enough that he fired the rest of the staff to make sure it was absolutely kept secret. Although, we have had several rather… evasive and secretive guests since then that he has seen to with great enthusiasm.” The butler said with a wave of the candle towards the top of the stairs that lead left and right in the wooden walls of a hallway.

“Thank you for your service, but I need to discuss a delicate matter with my father. If you have nowhere else to stay, I can arrange for you to have a night at an inn.”

The butler nodded appreciatively.

“With how hard I’ve been pushing to keep up these past few days, I’ll take my leave with great appreciation. I know one inn keeper who owes me a night’s rest.” He said with a grateful bow as he left to gather his things.

Nodding, Ryan walked up the stairs and turned left to where he remembered where his father’s office was. At the end of the hallway was a door with flickering candlelight showing in wispy shadows under the crack. Taking a deep breath as he stood at the top of the stairs, he stopped to order his thoughts before walking forward and coming up to the door. Knocking on the fine oak, there was a clatter followed by a scream.

“When I said not to interrupt me, what did you fucking think that mea-ant?” The slight slur at the last word made it clear how sober Leeroy was, or rather the lack thereof.

“I am here to see you on a… specific matter.” Ryan replied coolly.

“Ah, come in me boy.”

Opening the door, Ryan saw his father sitting behind a dark oak desk in the back-center of the room. The stand on the right had a candle that lit the opulent couch of red silk on the left and the fine craftsmanship of the window behind Leeroy. While the flickering candlelight showed nothing new since Ryan had last visited, the man in the plush leather seat had with the reflection of the candle dish in his right hand. Leeroy had clearly been following the path he was going down for a long time.

His long chin was hard to keep distinguished from the folds of fat that jostled around the neck and now almost totally missing jawline. Though the sharp cheek bones that marked Ryan his son were hard to see, the man was too familiar to Ryan for him to not recognize. Even as his brown eyes shifted unevenly from drink, some of which found itself on his grey shirt and fine blue vest, the now long brown hair was well maintained enough that it kept out of his wobbly vision.

A small bit of hygiene for a man who had plunged into the depths of hedonism and sought to reach its bottom with the power and wealth bestowed by his visitor.

“What brings you here so late?” Leeroy asked unevenly.

“There is a matter of some-“

Ryan stopped dead as he looked at the desk. To the left of the candle dish in Leeroy’s right hand, laying right in front of his father was a wooden box. Moving forward with a few clinks of his armor, the realization of what drew his interest hit him like a troll’s fist connecting full on into his gut as his mind finally caught up with his instincts. It wasn’t made up of individual boards but of a smooth piece molded into a singular form. The top was sawed off and inside was an odd black powder, of a smell and make he had never heard of before. Knowing only plant magic could craft such things, Ryan’s mind quickly went through the list of plant mages who were anywhere near this area who sold goods.

He came up blank as all of his known plant element mages were exclusively found on the coast. Aside from the one who also had all the other elements. Ryan’s eyes shot up to meet his fathers, boring into him as the earth scion stood totally still as he tried to fully process what he already knew with several rumors he had heard about the night of the attack on Eli’s home.

“Father,” Ryan whispered, “Tell me, tell me by all that is good in this rotten world, that this didn’t come from Eli’s house.”

His father’s brown eyes flared with a look defiance that showed in the shifting candlelight from his right hand.

“We have to take whatever opportunities we can to advance our position. I would have thought you, of all people, would understand that.” Leeroy said in a hard tone.

It was only the support of his familiar and the sheer weight of his armor that kept Ryan from swaying backwards.

“T-Those men that were rumored to be leaving Eli’s house. Those were your people? You-“ Ryan wheezed out the last portion as the ability to intake air failed him. “Were involved in the raid on his tower?”

Leeroy raised a brown eyebrow and set the burning candle with the copper dish down on a corner of the wooden cube, with the flame shifting from the now pudgier man getting up to stand at his full height, which was about a full inch shorter than his son.

“Lad, like I said, we need to take all of the opportunities we can to secure our future. A correspondent for the elves heard of your feud and well, business was conducted.”

“Feud?! Future?!” Ryan yelled, now fully in command of his person. “If Eli finds out that we had anything to do with the attack on his home, he may very well decide to smear us both across a wall.”

“Pff,” Leeroy scoffed as he put his left hand in his pocket to assume what he probably thought was a strong stance. “No matter, if it comes to that then he will have to be shown his place beneath the power of a scion.”

Ryan stood there, dumbstruck as his jaw was left agape beneath the metal mouth cover with holes.

“What?” Was all the earth scion could think to say.

“Dammit it all boy!” Leeroy scoffed with an irritated scowl as he puckered his lips in irritation. “You’re a scion, he’s a caster. The world should know its place when we top predators come prowling. Start acting like it!”

Ryan sucked in his breath as his familiar kept trying to soothe his emotions. Gritting his teeth, he pushed ahead.

“He can kill elves! We are not rivals and I thank the stars and all the heavens above for it because he would stomp me into dust if he had the mind to do it.”

Leeroy slammed his fist into the table.

“Where’s your grit? Scions-“

“No! I don’t want to hear about my great power as a scion.” Ryan stomped his right foot on the floor, making his father choke for a moment as the drunk man wobbled back into his chair from surprise with the shake of the candle on the corner of the box going totally unnoticed by the two men. “I listened to what you were saying when I first headed to this academy. Talking all this shit about how scions are the manifestation of courage and how powerful we are.

But you know what changed? I had to actually live it. I had to put in the hours of grueling work to start making even slightly decent spells. You know what finally confirmed that what I had been saying was nonsense? I got my butt handed to me by a powerless soldier with crafts.”

Leeroy’s cheeks got a red tint.

“And what a smudge of shame on our honor its been ever since.”

Ryan took a deep breath as he leaned forward and slammed on the table with both hands.

“Enough, dad! I know you’ve been trading on my name, in business deals, taverns, brothels and wherever else would accept such exchange. All the while I held my tongue because it wasn’t hurting me and I just didn’t want to fight about it. But this?” Ryan said with an outraged swing of his left hand to the box. “You’re going to get us killed! By the Lost Lands, how could you be so stu-“

Ryan froze as his face lost some color under the rock like helmet.

This whole time Ryan had trouble believing the story of his father killing his mother. Moral objections aside, there was that stubborn hope for humankind. That no matter how cruel, selfish, or vicious, there was a certain baseline of competence that every person at birth was gifted and it was that bare minimum of mental ability which enshrined their place somewhere above livestock. And killing his wife before doing such basic research? That would fall well below such sense.

That was until Ryan had listened to this idiotic drivel pouring from his father’s mouth. If he was truly dumb enough to not hide evidence that he helped attack the quad mages tower in the deepest, darkest hole he could find, then he was well short of that ever hoped for minimum of competence. Taking a calming breath, Ryan leaned back up as he stood totally still with the hammer swaying in its holster along his back.

“I am not involved in this.” Ryan said with a pointed finger of his metal gauntlet to the wooden box.

“Fine, more for me. More of whatever this shit is.” Leeroy said as he ran his hand through the black powder before he picked up the candle on the side and set it down to his right on the table. “Had so many people who know so much about magic come by and no one has any idea what this stuff is, even after we used several earth spells on it.”

“I’m sure you’ll find out what it does someday, maybe when Eli is skinning you on a table. But I didn’t come here to talk about this box. I heard some rumors. About mother.”

Leeroy’s face got a sour look as his nose flared.

“Pff, bitter maids’ tales. In better day’s I heard servants were put to death when they ill performed or outlived their masters. Perhaps the old ways were best in some respects.” A drunk hiccup punctuated the end of his sentence.

“Well?” Ryan demanded.

“Well what?” Leeroy shot back with a put-upon look of outrage.

“I’d like to hear an answer.” Ryan said with crossed arms.

Leeroy spat on the table.

“Shit, Ryan! Asking your own father that. Have you no decency?”

Ryan took another deep breath as he sucked air in through his teeth before answering.

“Using your son’s name to get into brothels isn’t decent. Aren’t we both a bit past such useless prattle?”

Leeroy huffed as he wiped unseen dirt from his expanded gut.

“Yes, I suppose we are. Your poor mother tripped over a cliff. Was she upset when she found me in between the legs of a maid or two? Sure. Was there constant nagging when-*Hic*-whenever I had to get a little drink and some coin from the family coffers helped make it happen? Absolutely. But whatever issues there were, we absolutely didn’t reach a point where we would kill each other.”

Ryan stood there with gritted teeth as he realized the other thing that had been irking him. Even if he didn’t kill her, those admissions were enough on their own to cause ache in his heart. Imagining his beloved mother walking into a room to see her husband rutting a younger woman or having to count out all the coppers as her cavorting husband made a mockery of her name in bars all over the countryside made his blood boil. His minds eye filled with that beloved woman in the painting crying as other wives mocked her, as those miserable dregs always did and having to go out to shop and hear about her husband running her name through the mud. Killer or not, his father hurt his gone-to-soon mother and that, he would not forgive.

“No more, Leeroy.” A bit of sand started flying around his right shoulder as his familiar stopped trying to calm him and gave into the emotions pouring in through their bond. “If I ever hear you trade on my name again, I will disown you before the town, the academy, and the all the known and unknown gods. I’ll see what I can do to compensate the poor duke Beck, who has been bearing the expenses of your wasted life, but from now on don’t you even think of trying to use the fact that you donated the seed my mother used to make me as leverage for deals, drinks, or the free use of a whore.”

Leeroy’s pudgy face drained of color as a look of horror gripped his features and he squeezed his chair. The life of easy coin and women evaporated before his very eyes, and in its place rose the most terrifying thought of Leeroy’s existence: having to live on his own merits.

“Now…Now just a fucking moment you rash brat!” Leeroy screamed like a squealing pig as he lifted the candle dish and swung it forward in accusation of his now estranged son. Ryan gritted his teeth and prepared a biting retort as his green eye barely noticed the candle tumble out of the copper dish.

“No, you listen yo-“ Ryan had the briefest moment where he saw the flaming candle go into the wooden box. Then there was a white light accompanied by heat and pain all through his body that passed by in a flash so fast he didn’t have the time to even register anything but that moment of eternity as it came and went, with his life passing along with it.